japan running news

The JOC announced the full lineups for the men's and women's teams for September's Nagoya Asian Games . Being hosted in Japan the Asian Games are a pretty big deal, and it's pretty close to the maximum of 2 athletes per event. The men's and women's triple jump, the women's 400 m and the women's discus throw only have 1 athlete on the Japanese team, and it's a big FU to the shot putters apparently as nobody was named to either the men's or women's teams even though people ranked lower in the World Athletics Asian rankings than top JPN shot putters Daichi Morishita and Chiharu Saka did make the team in other events. But, let's focus on what it is, not what it isn't. Going off this week's Asian rankings 8 men and 5 women are ranked #1 in their event, with a total of 19 men and 14 women ranked in the top 3. Factor in a limit of 2 per nationality and the relays and Japan's chances of scoring a great medal haul are looking good. M...

Day two of the Gumi Asian Athletics Championships got started with a pair of Japanese medals in the men's hammer throw . China's Wang Qi built up from an opening throw of 69.80 m, throwing further every attempt until his winning 74.50 m in the last round. Shota Fukuda sat in 2nd at 71.89 m after his second attempt, but teammate Tatsuto Nakagawa overtook him with a final throw of 71.97 m for silver, knocking Fukuda back to bronze. NR holder Misaki Morota took bronze in the women's pole vault , clearing 4.13 m. China's Niu Chunge dominated, tying Morota's NR of 4.48 m for gold, with Xu Huiqin taking silver at 4.23 m. Japan's Akari Osakaya was 6th at 3.98 m. One of Japan's anticipated golds didn't materialize in the men's 400 m , where Qatari Ammar Ismail Y Ibrahim outran NR holder Kentaro Sato for the win in 45.33. Sato held off Sri Lanka's Kalinda Kumarage for silver 45.50 to 45.55, with Fuga Sato 5th in 45.59. But the first Japanese gol...

The Gumi Asian Athletics Championships got moving with a silver in the men's 20 km race walk from #2 ranked Kento Yoshikawa , part of a breakaway trio with China's Wang Zhaozhao and India's Servin Sebasthiyan . The #1-ranked Wang pulled away in the last km to win in 1:20:37, Yoshikawa close behind in 1:20:46 and Sebasthiyan taking bronze in 1:21:14. Ryo Hamanishi was just out of the medals in 4th in 1:21:58. China's Su Lingdan was untouchable in the women's javelin throw with a 63.29 m PB for gold, but Momone Ueda and Sae Takemoto took silver and bronze. Ueda threw a season best 59.39 m on her final attempt, overtaking Takemoto's 4th-round 58.94 m. Another bronze came in the women's triple jump . China's Li Yi beat Uzbekistan's Sharifa Davronova by 6 cm for gold 13.80 m to 13.74 m, with Mariko Morimoto beating Maoko Takashima by 1 cm for bronze. Morimoto was 13.65 m on her 5th jump, but although Takashima came back with a big final attempt...

60 mH and 110 mH national record holder Shunsuke Izumiya came the closest to medaling on the small Japanese team at the Nanjing World Indoor Championships , taking 4th in the men's long jump on the final day of competition Sunday. Medalists Mattia Furlani , Wayne Pinnock and Liam Adcock were each only a cm apart, Furlani taking gold with a best jump of 8.30 m. Izumiya was 7 cm off Adcock, jumping a PB 8.21 m for 4th and continuing a steady progression in long jump since 2021. Hibiki Tsuha was last in the field of 13 at 7.13 m. With a stronger 2nd day that saw him make single-digit placings in each event, Yuma Maruyama took 9th in the heptathlon, scoring 5807. His best performance came in the pole vault, where Maruyama cleared 4.80 m for 8th of 12. In the women's 60 mH, Yumi Tanaka took 4th in her opening round heat in 8.06 to advance to the semifinals. There she ran 8.03 for 5th in SF2, missing a time qualifying spot by 0.07. With no other Japanese athletes making finals ...

As with yesterday , only one Japanese athlete competed in a final on the 2nd day of the Nanjing World Indoor Championships . Ranked 7th on SB in the field of 12 in the women's 3000 m, NR holder Nozomi Tanaka finished 10th in 8:47.93 over 10 seconds behind winner Freweyni Hailu of Ethiopia. Yuma Maruyama was also in action on the first day of heptathlon competition, sitting at 11th of 12 at the end of the day with 3135 points. Maruyama's best individual event placings were 9th in both the 60 m and long jump. In the men's 60 mH Tetsuro Nishi was the fastest time qualifier for the semifinals, running 7.79 for 5th in Heat 2. It would have taken at least 7.61 to get through the semis to the final, but Nishi could only turn in a 7.83 for 6th in SF2 and did not advance. The Nanjing World Indoor Championships wrap up Sunday. © 2025 Brett Larner , all rights reserved

The Asian Indoor Athletics Championships took place Feb. 17-19 in Tehran, Iran, women's events happening in morning sessions and men's in evening sessions without overlap. The small Japanese team of 14 took four gold medals, four silvers, and one bronze. Asuka Terada got things rolling for the small Japanese team with a silver in the women's 60 mH, running 8.18 to win her heat and then 8.21 in the final behind Indian gold medalist Jyothi Yarraji 's 8.12. China's Zhang Mingkun fouled on 4 of his 6 attempts in the men's, but his 5th attempt of 7.97 m was enough for gold. Japan's Yuto Toriumi and Daiki Oda took silver and bronze at 7.89 m and 7.76 m. Nanako Matsumoto won the women's 400 m final in 55.14 over Iranians Nazanin Fatemeh Eidan and Kazan Rostami , with Haruna Kuboyama 4th in 56.28 almost a second behind Rostami. Yuma Yamamoto had a dominant run for gold in the women's 3000 m, running 9:16.71 to win by almost 10 seconds over India...

After taking silver in the Hangzhou Asian Games 10000 m, former NR holder Ririka Hironaka was back in the 5000 m to try again for gold. And you can't say she didn't try. Hironaka immediately dictated the terms of the race, leading the first 1000 m in 3:00.43 and most of the way to 2000 m in 6:04.28 before pulling into the 2nd lane to let Ethiopian Bahraini Bontu Edao Rebitu do some of the work. The pace immediately slowed, with 3000 m and 4000 m splits of 9:14.44 and 12:24.30, until Hironaka attacked again. Over the last 1000 m she accelerated steadily and one by one cracked all three African-born athletes and India's Anita until the only one left behind her was 3000 m SC silver medalist Parul Chaudhary of India. On the back straight Hironaka managed to open some distance on Chaudhary and it looked like she might actually pull off the win, but with less than 50 m to go Chaudhary reeled her back in to take gold in 15:14.75 to Hironaka's 15:15.34, a 2:51.04 closing k...

Women's pole vault national record holder Misaki Morota kicked off the evening session on the fourth day of athletics competition at the Hangzhou Asian Games with a new NR and a silver medal. Morota cleared every height from 3.80 m to 4.40 m on her first attempt, then did it again at 4.48 m, 7 cm over her old record. China's Ling Li and Chung Niu only jumped once each, both clearing 4.30 m on their first attempts, leaving all three women to go for 4.53 m. Li made it on her first attempt, but both Morota and Niu failed, leaving Li in gold, Morota in silver and Niu in the bronze position. Li went on from there to make it over 4.63 m, breaking her own Games record by 3 cm. In the men's 200 m final, Koki Ueyama took the final in 20.60 (-0.2), beating Saudi Abdullah Akbar Mohammed by 0.03 to win Japan's first athletics gold medal in Hangzhou. Chun-Han Yang of Taiwan edged out veteran Femi Ogunode of Qatar for bronze, 20.74 to 20.75. A few minutes later Shunya Takayama...

The women's marathon at the World Championships used to be a fairly reliable source of medals or at least top 8 finishes, but as the first race on Day 8 in Budapest showed those days are slipping farther and farther away. 9th last year in Oregon, Mizuki Matsuda was the top Japanese woman again this time at 13th in 2:29:15, starting slow before passing teammates Rika Kaseda and Sayaka Sato but unable to break into the top 8. Kaseda was 19th in 2:31:53 and Sato 20th in 2:31:57, the medals going to Ethiopians Amane Beriso and Gotytom Gebreslase in 2:24:23 and 2:24:34, and fast-closing Moroccan Fatima Ezzahra Gardadi in 2:25:17. The formerly Japan-based Rosemary Wanjiru and Selly Chepyego Kaptich were the top two placers for Kenya at 6th and 7th in 2:26:42 and 2:27:09. With that down, Japan's only other real medal shot was in the men's 4x100 m final where it was one of five teams who could realistically place on the podium. Over the first three legs Japan was more or l...

Haruka Kitaguchi lived up to her #1 in the world ranking with a last-second comeback to take gold on the 7th day of the Budapest World Championships . Stunningly consistent with her first five throws all between 61.78 m and 63.00 m, Kitaguchi sat in 4th place just out of the medals when she stepped up for her 6th and final attempt. Australian Mackenzie Little and Latvian Anete Kocina were just ahead at 63.38 m and 63.18 m, but with Colombia's Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado having opened with a 65.47 m area record it would take something special for Kitaguchi to move into the top spot. And that's exactly what she delivered. Kitaguchi threw 66.73 m, the second-furthest of her career and just 31 cm off her month-old national record, right when it mattered. With that she stepped into the history books as the first Japanese woman ever to win a World Championships gold medal in an event other than the marathon. Back home there were immediate calls for a national holiday to be declared. ...

Japan dominated day 2 of the Bangkok Asian Athletics Championships Thursday, winning 3 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze medals across 10 events. The biggest news was in the men's 400 m final, where Kentaro Sato ran an all-time JPN #2 45.00 for the win and Fuga Sato an all-time JPN #5 45.13 for silver. Both were well back from Asian record holder Yousef Ahmed Masrahi of Saudi Arabia coming into the home straight, but with stunning kicks they pulled up into the medals, in Fuga's case going all the way from 5th to 2nd. Masrahi was in the bronze position in a season best 45.19. Another 1-2 finish for Japan came in the women's 10000 m. Haruka Kokai was part of a breakaway trio with Kenya-born Kazakhstani Caroline Chepkoech Kipkirui and Mongolian NR holder Munkhzaya Bayartsogt , while Momoka Kawaguchi held back in the second group warier of the heat and humidity. On track to break her own NR, Munkhzaya did all the work up front, burning off Kipkirui who ultimately dropped out. ...

The 2023 Asian Athletics Championships started Wednesday in Bangkok, Thailand. Japan's fastest-ever collegiate 10000 m runner Ren Tazawa said pre-race that he would go for a sub-28 win to have a shot at getting into the quota for next month's Budapest World Championships. But while he, teammate Yuto Imae , Kenya-born Kazakhstani Shamrock Kimutai and others gave it a go, it was just too hot and humid to sustain. Tazawa led the entire way except for some early assistance from Imae and a very brief mid-race attack from Kimutai, going through halfway in 14:17.99 and crossing the finish line in 29:18.44. Kimutai was 2nd in 29:31.63, with Imae getting caught by India's Abhiskhek Pal in the last 200 m and knocked out of the medals. Tazawa's gold was the first AAC 10000 m gold for Japan since 1981, which seems surprising, but while his time was over a minute short of what he needed for the Budapest quota there's still a chance he'll make it as area champion. That wo...

by Brett Larner video by Ekiden News The 2016 Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships wrapped up yesterday, highlighted by new high school national records in the girls' 4x400 m relay and boys' pole vault and meet records in those events and the boys' 5000 m race walk, boys' 4x400 m relay and boys' octathlon.  18 events saw athletes break into the all-time Japanese junior and high school top ten lists, a sign of the all-around high level of competition this year. The boys' 5000 mRW was unusually action-packed, with 12 boys breaking the meet record.  Girls' middle and long distance were also strong, with 7 girls under 2:08 in the 800 m, 9 under 4:20 in the 1500 m and 9 under 9:10 in the 3000 m.  In these and other events the top times were even good enough to get into and in some cases top  the U.S.A. high school top ten lists for the year . Below is a list of records and all-time top ten Japanese junior and high school marks set a...

click here for five-channel live streaming of the 69th Japanese National High School Track and Field Championships by Brett Larner videos by Ekiden News #岡山インターハイ #okayama2016 男子棒高跳　江島雅紀　5m43　3回目に成功 日本高校新記録 ★ pic.twitter.com/ddslIjs0zf — EKIDEN News (@EKIDEN_News) July 30, 2016 Back in action after his 6th-place finish at last week's World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, Masaki Ejima (Eda H.S.) cleared 5.43 m to win the 2016 National High School Track and Field Championships boys' pole vault July 30 at Okayama's City Lights Stadium.  Ejima's mark broke the meet record by 2 cm and his own high school national record set earlier this year by 1 cm. 8th in the Bydgoszcz girls' 3000 m and 2nd in June's National Championships 1500 m, Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) was likewise back in the 1500 m.  In a tight race with teammates Hina Takahashi and Yume Goto , Tanaka tried to frontrun her way to a national title but lost to Takahashi b...