japan running news

The Nagoya Women's Marathon has announced 3 withdrawals from Sunday's race. Half marathon NR holder Hitomi Niiya (Sekisui Kagaku) has withdrawn with an Achilles tendon injury, Gold Coast Marathon CR holder Yuki Nakamura (Panasonic) due to a knee injury, and 2:25:44 runner Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo) to run the Mar. 30 Asian Marathon Championships in Jiaxing, China. With Niiya's withdrawal the top domestic seed in Nagoya is now Rika Kaseda (Daihatsu), 2:21:55 in Berlin 3 years ago. The complete remaining Nagoya field is here . © 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

  The 73rd Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon official website has been updated to announce that Hironori Kishimoto (GMO) has withdrawn from Sunday's race. Kishimoto, 24, ran a 2:08:38 debut at last year's Beppu-Oita to finish 3rd, earning him a prominent place in this year's field. Along with Kishimoto, #3-ranked Yohanes Ghebregergis of Eritrea has also pulled out with injury. source article: https://www.rikujyokyogi.co.jp/archives/160541 translated by Brett Larner

On Sept. 6 Yamada Holdings announced that its women's ekiden team has scratched from the Oct. 20 Princess Ekiden, the qualifying race for the Nov. 24 Queens Ekiden national corporate women's championships in Sendai. Yamada Holdings had been targeting a podium finish at the Queens Ekiden this year. The announcement stated, "A restructured development system was put in place this year to develop a stronger team, but with multiple athletes injured we have made the decision to withdraw from running the Princess Ekiden." Other races on the schedule this season remain a question mark and will depend on athletes' conditions. The Yamada Holdings team was 22nd at the Queens Ekiden last year, well off the podium and earning the guaranteed place at the following year's race that comes with it. Longtime coaching staff member Kei Yokoyama , 49, was appointed head coach this year after 10 years as assistant coach, and hopes were high that the team would return to previous ...

On Aug. 26 women's marathon national record holder Honami Maeda of the Tenmaya corporate team talked about her unfortunate withdrawal from the Paris Olympics after suffering a stress fracture. After that she went on leave from the team to focus on her recovery. Q. What have you been doing since the Olympics? Maeda: I've just been back home taking it easy and seeing friends. Taking it slow and relaxing. The stress fracture hasn't fully healed yet, so I have to rest. I don't really have any choice except taking it easy, so it feels different from my normal holidays. When I look back on the whole thing I feel some regret. Q. What makes you feel regret? Maeda: I can't answer that. With no current plans to restart her training, for the foreseeable future Maeda will be just dealing with recovery from her injury. source article: https://www.ohk.co.jp/data/26-20240826-00000019/pages/ translated by Brett Larner

On Mar. 1 the organizers of the Mar. 10 Nagoya Women's Marathon announced that Ai Hosoda (28, Edion) has withdrawn due to a muscular injury on the inside of her left leg. Hosoda placed 3rd at last October's Paris Olympic marathon trials behind winner Yuka Suzuki and just 7 seconds back from 2nd-placer Mao Ichiyama to take a provisional spot on the Paris team. But at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon Honami Maeda ran a 2:18:59 national record to replace Hosoda on the team. Nagoya is the last chance for Japanese women to make the team, which would require them to be the top Japanese finisher and beat Maeda's time. Hosoda's withdrawal means that her hopes of making the Paris Olympic team have now come to an end. source article: https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/5b008a275315959366708842d2411e6658c7ef05 translated and edited by Brett Larner

  On Nov. 27 the organizers of the 54th Hofu Yomiuri Marathon announced that Tokyo Paralympics women's T12 marathon gold medalist Misato Michishita (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) has withdrawn from Sunday's race. Organizers cited an unspecified injury as the reason for Michishita's withdrawal. source article: https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/local/kyushu/news/20231128-OYTNT50064/ translated by Brett Larner

On Sept. 20 the JAAF announced that three members of Japan's team for the Sept. 29-Oct. 5 Hangzhou Asian Games have withdrawn due to injury. According to the announcement, Arisa Kimishima , the only Japanese woman scheduled to run the 100 m and 200 m, is out with plantar fasciitis. Haruka Kokai , one of two women in the 10000 m, has sustained a stress fracture in one of her feet. Kazuto Iizawa , one of two entrants in the men's 1500 m, is suffering from lower back pain. source article: https://www.rikujyokyogi.co.jp/archives/114700 translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Aug. 29 the JAAF announced that Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) has withdrawn from the Oct. 15 Marathon Grand Championship race, Japan's trials event for the 2024 Paris Olympics marathon team. Dairokuno is reported to be suffering from tibial periostitis in his left leg due to overuse. A native of Kagoshima, Dairokuno is 30 years old. While at Meiji University he won the 8th Stage at the 2014 National University Ekiden, and since joining the Asahi Kasei corporate team has been a member of three national champion lineups at the New Year Ekiden. His PBs include 13:28.61 for 5000 m, 27:46.55 for 10000 m, and 1:01:32 for the half marathon. At the 2021 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon he ran his 2:07:21 marathon best. source article: https://www.rikujyokyogi.co.jp/archives/113235 translated by Brett Larner

On Mar. 8 the organizers of Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon announced that American Olympic medalist Molly Seidel and German Katharina Steinruck have withdrawn from the race. According to the organizers, Seidel has sustained an injury to her right hip while Steinruck was described as suffering from acute sinusitis. More here . © 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

With the Oregon 22 World Championships coming to a close on July 25, next year and beyond are already on the horizon. Having missed her likely spot on the Japanese team after an injury kept her out of May's 10000 m National Championships, Seira Fuwa (19, 2nd yr., Takushoku Univ.) and her coach Toshiharu Igarashi traveled to Eugene to watch the women's 10000 m in person. Coach Igarashi talked about their reasons for going and their plans for the future. "I went to see the 2011 Daegu World Championships, and the atmosphere was really something unique," he said. "The difference between watching it on TV and experiencing it in the stadium was incredible." To help Fuwa prepare for her own upcoming debut at the international level, he wanted her to get the same experience of the level and atmosphere at an early stage in her career. Igarashi suggested the trip to the U.S. to her on May 4 right after announcing her withdrawal from the National Championships. ...

Takushoku University women's ekiden head coach Toshiharu Igarashi has revealed that he will take U20 and collegiate 10000 m record holder Seira Fuwa , 19, to watch the Oregon 2022 World Championships women's 10000 m in person. Last December Fuwa ran 30:45.21 for 10000 m, the 2nd-fastest Japanese time ever and easily clearing the 31:25.00 World Championships qualification standard. All she needed to do to make the Japanese team was finish top 3 at May's National Championships, but an injury to her right Achilles tendon in January made her give up on competing at Nationals and focus instead on treating the injury. Last month on Takushoku's official team social media Igarashi posted that Fuwa has started training again. "She isn't back to full-on workouts yet, but she's back to rhythm of regular running at a jogging pace," he wrote. He also posted, "I'm going to take Fuwa to America to see the Oregon World Championships in person." His ho...

Appearing on the news23 program on May 9, former women's marathon world record holder and Sydney Olympics marathon gold medalist Naoko Takahashi commented on 19-year-old Takushoku University 2nd-year Seira Fuwa 's withdrawal from the May 7 10000 m National Championships , the qualifying event for this summer's Oregon World Championships. "There's no need to overdue it," Takahashi said. "She's someone with the talent and ability to run 30:45.21, the 2nd-fastest time in Japanese history, in her first time running the 10000 m, an extremely high-potential athlete. The most important thing for her right now is to take it easy and fully recover from her injury. She's just 19 and has only just started on the road to realizing her dreams, and I'd like to ask everyone out there to support her in the longterm. Let's all take good care of her." Last month Takahashi interviewed Fuwa for the program, telling her, "If I had to say one thing...

Former Hakone Ekiden uphill specialist and 2024 Olympic marathon trials qualifier Daichi Kamino , 28, revealed on his Youtube channel on Feb. 8 that he has suffered a stress fracture of his ribs. Kamino said that during training on Feb. 5 he felt sudden pain in his back. When the pain didn't go away after taking a day off, he went to the hospital on the 7th and was found to have sustained a fractured rib. "It's not a major fracture, so it should take too long to heal," Kamino said, indicating that he will take two weeks fully off and may not be able to run for up to a month. He said that doctors told him that his characteristic arm swing may have caused the fracture by repetitively compressing his chest cavity. "My first priority is to get healed," he said. "It's important to keep doing what training I can while injured, but to keep it to what I can do safely without overdoing it." Translator's note: Kamino was 2nd at the Dec. 19 Hofu Yomi...

Australian Melissa Duncan , the 2019 Oceanian 5000 m champion, is one of only a handful of non-African foreign athletes ever to run in the Japanese corporate team system. From early 2019 to January, 2021 she ran for the Shiseido corporate team, responsible for handling the international stage for the team at both the 2019 and 2020 Queens Ekiden, the corporate women’s national championship race. Now back home, she looked back on the highs and lows of her experience.  Update: We've reached out to a party involved with the team for comment but have not received a response. We will update further should there be one. I’ll never forget my first team meeting after joining the Shiseido Running Club.  The staff were revealing the training for the following day. “Morning training will be..., 11 a.m. training is..., For afternoon training….” I thought to myself, “I’m sorry...What? We’re training three times tomorrow?!” I thought it was a little excessive, but when I learnt that this sc...

On Mar. 5 the organizers of the Mar. 14 Nagoya Women's Marathon announced that invited athlete Ayuko Suzuki  (Japan Post), a member of Japan's marathon team for this summer's Tokyo Olympics,  has withdrawn due to inflammation of a tendon in her left leg. Nagoya was to be Suzuki's first marathon since finishing 2nd at the September, 2019 Marathon Grand Championship Olympic trials race. Suzuki suffered injury last year as well but was able to run the 5th Stage at November's National Corporate Women's Ekiden, helping lead Japan Post to a second national title. Translator's note: The other two members of the Tokyo Olympics women's marathon squad, trials winner  Honami Maeda  (Tenmaya) and women-only marathon NR holder Mao Ichiyama  (Wacoal) both ran Osaka in January. On the men's side trials winner  Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) withdrew from last weekend's Lake Biwa Marathon with injury and 2nd placer Yuma Hattori (Toyota) withdrew from December's...