japan running news

Corona numbers in Japan are at record-breaking levels right now, some of the highest in the world, but at least a few races are throwing caution to the wind, in their own highly controlled way, and trying to go ahead. The Hokkaido Marathon is one of them, an end-of-summer regular making a comeback this year in order to give a shortcut to 2024 MGC Race olympic trials qualification to anyone who can handle hot conditions. It announced its elite field today. Honami Maeda , was the first woman to qualify for the pre-Tokyo Olympics MGC, winning Hokkaido back in 2017 and going on to win the trials. She broke the 30 km NR without wearing super shoes after that, but things haven't been great for her for a long time. But while every other good marathoner from the Tenmaya team has never pulled back up once they start the downward spiral, Maeda has re-emerged this spring with two good half marathons, the better a 1:08:28 PB and CR win in nearby Hakodate a month ago. That's all good, but...

No Japanese athlete made it to any of the five finals on day three of the Cali 22 World U20 Championships , but qualifying rounds did see most of the athletes in action advance to their next rounds on upcoming days. In the men's 3000 m, both H.S NR holder Keita Sato and #3 Hiroto Yoshioka placed 5th in their heats to take auto-qualifying spots, Sato in Heat 2 with an 8:00.17 SB and Yoshioka in Heat 1 in 8:15.95. Both men in the 3000 m steeplechase also qualified for the final, Ryotaro Onuma taking an auto-qualifying place at 3rd in Heat 2 in 9:00.02 and Asahi Kuroda getting through on time in the fastest Heat 3 with an 8:51.04 for 5th. Likewise in the men's 400 m hurdles heats, Sojiro Moritaka 2nd in Heat 3 in 51.04 for a semi-final auto-qualifying spot and Daiki Ogawa through on time in 51.52 for 4th in Heat 4. In the women's hammer throw, Raika Murakami was a surprise, throwing a 61.28 m SB for 10th of the twelve qualifiers. Moe Matsuoka narrowly missed the women...

The next big talent coming up through the ranks of Japanese sprinting, Toyo University 1st-year Hiroki Yanagita ran a PB 10.15 +0.7 for 2nd in his semi-final on Day 2 of the Cali 22 World U20 Championships . Building on that in the final would have put him in range of bronze, but in the final Yanagita couldn't quite replicate it, 6th overall in 10.24 +0.8 behind a 9.91 U20 WR from gold medalist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, silver medalist Bouwahjgie Nkrumie of Jamaica's 10.02 U20 NR, and a 10.12 for bronze from South African Benjamin Richardson . The final featured 8 athletes from 8 countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas, the best kind of international field for a global championships final. Momoko Tsuji almost perfectly mirrored Yanagita's performances in the women's javelin throw. 2nd in the qualification round at 56.07 m, in the final she could only manage a 53.82 m for 6th. In the gold medal spot, Serbian Adriana Vilagos threw a championships record 63.52 m...

The Cali 22 World U20 Championships got underway Monday, with Japan fielding a team of 34. There are eight current U20 Japanese women under 9:10 for 3000 m, but even though that distance has been an area of strength in past World U20 Championships Japan was strangely absent from the first track final of the meet. Gold went to Kenyan Betty Chelangat in 9:01.03, Ethiopian Tsiyon Abebe taking silver in 9:03.85 and Kenyan Nancy Cherop bronze in 9:05.98. U20 and high school NR holder Keita Sato ran the day's other final, the men's 5000 m. Ranked 6th in the field on SB, Sato spent the first 2/3 of the race hovering around 8th to 10th before abruptly fading after 3600 m and finishing 11th in 14:26.19. High schooler Hiroto Yoshioka made a big play to get into contact with the lead group right before Sato dropped and held on for 7th in 14:10.68, the only athlete born outside Africa to make the top 10. Ethiopia took gold here with Addisu Yihune outkicking Eritreans Merhawi Mebrah...

https://www.triathlon.org/news/article/japanese_triathlete_tsudoi_miyazaki_dies_in_training_incident_in_franc

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. ...

The same day most of Japan's team from the Oregon 22 World Championships made it back home, the Cali 22 World U20 Championships team took off from Tokyo ahead of next week's meet. 9 women representing 5 universities and 3 high schools across 6 events and 25 men from 17 universities and 3 high schools across 15 events are entered . But if the numbers in Eugene were anything to go by it's likely the number of them who make it to the starting line will be smaller.  The women are surprisingly absent from the 3000 m, usually an area of strength for them, but the women's team does include Moe Matsuoka (Chuo Univ.), 4th-fastest U20 worldwide in the 400 mH this year, 10000 mRW top 2-ranked Ai Oyama (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) and Ayane Yanai (Ritsumeikan Univ.), and 2022 worldwide #5 and #6 Momoko Tsuji (Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ.) and Aoi Murakami (Nittai Univ.) in the javelin throw. Notable names among the men's entries include Oregon 4x100 m team member and worldwide #6 jun...

The final day of the Oregon 22 World Championships opened with a medal-winning walk from Masatora Kawano in the men's 35 km race walk. Teammate Daisuke Matsunaga went out hard, opening a lead of over a minute at one point before being reeled in early in the second half and fading to 26th. Kawano stayed in the lead group the entire way, the only person there never to take the lead at any point, covering any move without making any contribution to the race. When Italy's Massimo Stano made his final move for the win Kawano was right there, but he couldn't quite close it down and was consigned by the Italian to silver, 2:23:14 to 2:23:15. Sweden's Perseus Karlstrom took bronze in 2:23:44. Japan's Tomohiro Noda patiently worked his way up into the top 8 together with Canadian Evan Dunfee , but while Dunfee was able to carry his momentum all the way to final finishing position of 6th, Noda faded and was re-taken, ultimately just outside the top 8 at 9th in 2:25:29 ...