japan running news

by Brett Larner Japan's best chances for athletics medals in London may come in the men's 400 m hurdles and 50 km race walk.  Hosei University's Takayuki Kishimoto  dropped a major PB of 48.41 to win June's National Championships/Olympic Trials and find himself ranked 5th in the world and 4th in the Olympic field.  With little championship experience to his name it will be tough for him to stand up to the pressure of his Olympic debut, but still on an upward roll he could edge his way in for some hardware. 50 km race walk national record holder Yuki Yamazaki  (SDF Academy) comes into the Olympics ranked 5th in the field by season best despite being well off his best.  With at least nine men holding faster PB marks it won't be easy for him to break into the medals, but a solid performance could earn him the bronze. On the subject of bronze, the Japanese men's 4x100 m relay comes to London as the defending bronze medal squad.  Only one member of the Bei...

by Brett Larner Japan's field contingent at the London Olympics is small, but every member is a world-level medalist, national record holder or national collegiate record holder.  Most eyes will be upon 2011 Daegu World Championships and 2004 Athens Olympics men's hammer throw gold medalist Koji Murofushi  (Mizuno), who has previously indicated the intent to retire following London.  Murofushi was on top of his game in Daegu, but this spring he was lying low, taking his record 18th-straight national title with a throw of only 72.85 m.  Such a minimal-effort performance raised concerns about his fitness, but Murofushi typically brings his best to the major championships and, if fit, should move up far in the standings from his low-level seeded position. If any other Japanese athletes are likely to figure into the top of the competition it will be in the men's javelin throw, where 2009 Berlin World Championships bronze medalist Yukifumi Murakami  (Suzuki Hamam...

by Brett Larner Despite going through the heats and final of the 1500 m and the qualifying heats for the 3000 m, Kenyans Rosemary Wanjiru  (Aomori Yamada H.S.) and Mary Waithera  (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) saved the best for last, braving temperatures over 30 degrees to smash their PBs and go 1-2 in the 3000 m final on the last day of the 2012 Japanese National H.S. Track & Field Championships, Aug. 2 and Niigata's Big Swan Stadium.  The winner of both Heat 1 and the 1500 m final, Waithera pushed the pace from the start but was unable to top Heat 3 winner Wanjiru, who lopped a stunning 16 seconds off her best to finish in a high-quality 8:51.97 for the win.  Unable to match Wanjiru, Waithera still took 6 seconds off her personal best as she finished a half second back in 8:52.59.  Heat 2 winner and Japanese favorite Miyuki Uehara  (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) was 3 seconds off her best but strong enough to hold off rival Sakiko Naito  (Funabashi Civic H.S.) f...

by Brett Larner For many a long year Japanese women's marathoning has gotten far more media attention and public respect than the men; at the 2010 London Marathon the Japanese broadcast only followed the women and never mentioned that 5000 m and 30 km national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya  (Team Konica Minolta) and two-time World Championships team member Satoshi Irifune  (Team Kanebo) were in the men's race, even when they were inadvertently on-camera.  It's telling, then, of expectations of this year's Japanese women's marathon team that government broadcaster NHK's pre-Olympic preview of six events for Japanese fans to follow prominently featured the men's marathon but said nothing about the women's marathon. To give credit where it's due it's a good squad, featuring 2009 Berlin World Championships silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki  (Daiichi Seimei), 2012 Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Risa Shigetomo  (Team Tenmaya), whose...

by Brett Larner Summer heat couldn't stop the fast times in the 5000 m final on the fourth day of the 2012 National High School Track & Field Championships Aug. 1 in Niigata.  After a Kenyan-dominated round of qualifying heats, #1 seed Charles Ndungu  (Kenya/Sapporo Yamanote H.S.), #2 Jeremiah Karemi  (Kenya/Toyokawa H.S.), #4-ranked Kazuma Taira  (Toyokawa Kogyo H.S.) and four others took the final out hard, starting at 13:07 pace and gradually slowing.  As the rest of the field faded away, first-year Ndungu and the experienced Karemi battled for the lead as top-ranked Japanese Taira struggled to stay with them.  Over the last kilometer Taira fell behind, and in the final sprint down the home straight Karemi emerged a fraction of a second ahead of Ndungu to take the 2012 national title in a solid 13:46.30 to Ndungu's 13:46.56.  Taira held on to 3rd in 13:55.64, just outrunning #3 seed John Maina  (Kenya/Aomori Yamada H.S.).  1500 m cha...

by Brett Larner This year's Japanese Olympic track squad includes three women and only one man in the distance events, all of whom are scheduled to double at 5000 m and 10000 m.  The women's team features 5000 m national record holder Kayoko Fukushi  (Team Wacoal), 5000 m national champion Hitomi Niiya  (Team Univ. Ent.) and 10000 m national champion Mika Yoshikawa  (Team Panasonic), while two-time men's 10000 m national champion Yuki Sato  (Team Nissin Shokuhin) will be the sole Japanese man in the 5 and 10. Fukushi originally targeted the marathon in London, but after a failed qualification race in Osaka in January she regrouped and went back to the track, where she is already a two-time Olympian.    Sub-par throughout the spring, at the Olympic Trials she acted as an unofficial pacer for Yoshikawa to get the 10000 m A-standard, finishing 2nd in 31:43.25 but a lock for the team with a career 2nd-best 30:54.29 A-standard mark at last year's P...

http://www.joc.or.jp/games/olympic/london/news/detail.html?id=2062 translated by Brett Larner London Olympics women's marathon team member Risa Shigetomo  (Team Tenmaya) arrived at London's Heathrow Airport on July 30th full of enthusiasm ahead of her race on Aug. 5, telling reporters, "I feel ready to go.  I'm really inspired by the other Japanese athletes who have already won medals." In her final training at altitude in Albuquerque, New Mexico Shigetomo felt less than 100% and came up short of the goals in her training menu, but she did not have any major injury problems. "I think I'll be feeling good on the starting line," she said with a smile.

30th New Caledonia International Half Marathon New Caledonia, 7/29/12 click here for complete results Men 1. Yudai Yamakawa - 1:07:17 2. Toshikatsu Ebina - 1:08:02 3. Jun Aoki - 1:14:44 Women 1. Ayako Mitsui - 1:16:03 2. Maki Saito - 1:16:06 3. Kanade Iida - 1:17:18