japan running news

After leading the first day of competition, Yuto Yamamoto took Japan's only gold medal on Day 2 of the Asian U23 Athletics Championships in Ordos, China with a 7395 win in the decathlon. Yamamoto started the second day with a 71-point lead over China's Chenghao Zhu , and with 1st-place finishes in the pole vault and 1500 m built that to a final margin of victory of 109 points. Zhu dropped to bronze in 7071, overtaken by teammate Jiawei Wang who took silver with 7286. Silver medals came in the men's 200 m, where Kota Uematsu ran a wind-aided 20.58, the women's 800 m with Kurumi Sugure 2nd in 2:09.42 and Yuri Nishida 7th in 2:12.08, the women's 5000 m thanks to a 16:50.52 by Koharu Chugo , and the men's 3000 mSC where Tetsu Sasaki came up less than 3 seconds short of another Waseda University gold in 8:56.99 behind Qatari Zakaria Elahlaami . Bronze medals went to Ami Takahashi with a 23.66 (+1.5) in the women's 200 m and Aoi Murakami in the women...

The first edition of the Asian U23 Athletics Championships kicked off Thursday in Ordos China with Japanese athlete picking up medals in 4 of the 6 finals in which they competed. With a 13:20.64 best in April this year Waseda University 's Rui Suzuki had an easy win in the men's 5000 m, running 14:01.24 to pick up Japan's first gold. Sota Orita of 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University struggled, though, running only 15:02.19 for 6th despite having run 13:38.09 in April. Sora Murata and Mitsuki Kobayashi picked up silver and bronze in the women's pole vault behind winner Lingxia Wei of China, with Aiha Yamagata adding another silver to the count with an 11.44 (+0.7) in the women's 100 m between Chinese gold and bronze medalists Kunzhi Xue and Xiajun Liu . One more bronze came in the women's hammer throw, where 2025/2026 national champ Raika Murakami threw a PB of 68.83 m on her 4th attempt. Yuto Yamamoto led the men's decathlon standing...

Day three of the 21st U20 Asian Athletics Championships in Dubai Friday delivered Japan's best single-day medal count so far, with two gold medals, a silver and four bronze. Breaking it down: Yuri Nishida (Ritsumeikan Univ.) and Sari Kamei (Kyoto Kyoiku Univ.) brought A-game in the women's 800 m final. Nishida ran a PB 2:06.55 for gold over India's Sandilea Vinod by 0.55, with Kamei also running a PB of 2:07.56 for bronze. Shota Fuchigami (Waseda Univ.) dominated in the men's 400 mH, running a PB 49.97 to win gold by almost 2 seconds over China's Cai Yuchen and Korean Kim Jeonghyun . Rikuya Yoshida (Nittai Kashiwa H.S.) cleared 5.25 m for silver in the men's pole vault. Yuki Hojo (Yoga T&F) held off Korea's Hwang Uichan by 0.04 for bronze in the men's 110 mH final, running 13.74 (+1.2) to Hwang's 13.78. Kyosuke Yamanaka (Hosei Univ.) was just out of the medals at 13.80 for 5th. Miyabi Sono (Kokushikan Univ.) won bronze in the women'...

The U20 Asian Athletics Championships started Wednesday in Dubai, U.A.E. Narumi Okumoto (Hitachi) and Nozomi Kondo (Meijo Univ.) scored Japan's first two medals in the women's 3000 m, running behind leader Yaxuan Li of China over the first 1000 m. Kondo lost touch after the first 1000 m, while Okumoto lasted another 1000 m with Li. Li took gold in 9:12.79, Okumoto silver in 9:25.19 and Kondo bronze in 9:38.91. In qualifying rounds: Both Yuri Nishida (Ritsumeikan Univ.) and Sari Kameda (Kyoto Kyoiku Univ.) won their women's 800 m heats and advanced to the next round, Nishida in a PB 2:07.36 and Kamei in 2:10.87, also a PB. Shota Fuchigami (Waseda Univ.) won his 400 mH heat in a PB 50.19 to make the final. Hiroto Shogomori (Chuo Univ.) was 2nd in his 400 m heat in 47.37, yet another athlete to run a PB, moving on to the semifinals. The lone female sprinter on the Japanese team, Misaki Morimoto (Sonoda Joshi Gakuen Univ.) won her 100 m heat in 12.20 (-1.4) and advance...

Opposite the Hangzhou Asian Games and World Road Running Championships, the Continental Tour Bronze Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup meet took place this weekend in Niigata. The highlight on Saturday came in its last race, the men’s 5000 m A-heat, where 20-year-old Shunsuke Yoshii , a 2nd-year at Hakone Ekiden runner-up Chuo University , ran 13:22.01 for the win after getting quality pacing almost the entire way from pacer Amos Bett (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.). Chuo 4th-year Shota Nakano was 2nd in 13:28.04 and Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) 3rd in 13:29.12. Combined with their older brothers Yamato Yoshii and Kazuki Tamura , Yoshii and Tamura now stand as the fastest and 3rd-fastest brothers over 5000 m in Japanese history. Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) handled pacing work in the women’s 5000 m, where Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) was the last one left standing at Akidor’s pace with a 15:36.47 for the win. 2nd-placer Yuna Takahashi ran 15:42.37, with 3rd and 4th-place Mikun...

There were a lot of good performances on the 4th day of the Sapporo High School Championships, but a freak accident in the first heat of the boys' 3000 mSC got most of the attention. The leading runner at the first obstacle fell right as he started to jump, colliding with the barrier at waist height and falling forward over it. The ~100 kg barrier rocked forward just as multiple people behind the leader put their feet on it as they jumped, tipping it further. Athletes in the next row started to crash into the runners ahead or hit the obstacle, giving it enough momentum to fall over. It probably wasn't the first time this has ever happened, but given the construction of the obstacle and the combination of force and angle of impact needed to knock the it over it must be pretty close to never. Nobody was caught underneath, but when officials stopped the heat and re-ran it the runner who first hit the barrier, Shuya Kanamori (Sakudaira Sogo H.S.), and one other were both absent. ...