japan running news

by Brett Larner video highlights courtesy of race broadcaster NHK Hiroshima's Sera H.S. delivered on the promise of its #1 ranking at the 65th National High School Boys Ekiden Championships, running away on the third of the 42.195 km race's seven stages and never looking back.  Sera got off to a slightly shaky start as its top Japanese runner Shiki Shinsako finished only 6th on the First Stage, 11 seconds behind Fuminori Shimo of #5-ranked Iga Hakuho H.S. who ran 29:39 to win the 10.0 km stage off a slow 15:10 first half.  Sera stayed at 6th on the 3.0 km Second Stage, but Kenyan ringer Paul Kamais did his duty on the 8.1075 km Third Stage, easily taking the lead and running a superb 22:58 just shy of the 22:40 course record set 10 years ago by the late great Samuel Wanjiru of Sendai Ikuei H.S. When Kamais was done Sera had gone from 18 seconds behind to a 51-second lead.  Its remaining runners could have played it safe, but both fourth runner Taiji Nakashi...

by Brett Larner photo by Kazuyuki Sugimatsu video by Ekiden News After two meet records yesterday, the fourth day of this year's National High School Track and Field Championships saw the meet's first national record.  Rising star Meg Hemphill (Kyoto Bunkyo H.S.) built up a steady lead over the two days of the women's heptathlon, and with 4666 points and only the 800 m left she needed to run just 2:26.14 to break both the high school and junior national records.  Instead of settling for an easy record she went out full-effort, running 2:17.87 to total 5519 and breaking not just the meet record and the two national records but landing at all-time #8 in the Japanese record books.  A relative newcomer, she looks set to be one of the more interesting Japanese track and field athletes in the next few years. Hemphill brought the performance of the day, but there were other quality results.  Winning the 400 m national title on the first day of the meet and coming b...

by Brett Larner The second day of the 2014 National High School Track and Field Championships brought even hotter temperatures than the first , 36 degrees at the time of the girls' and boys' mid-afternoon 1500 m finals.  The girls' race started with a mishap as #1-ranked Japanese runner Karin Yasumoto (Suma Gakuen H.S.) was tripped in the first 50 m as the field crowded together, landing flat on her face and ultimately ending up second-to-last.  #1-seeded Kenyan Monica Margaret (Aomori Yamada H.S.) shot to the front and opened a lead of over 50 m by halfway, with the two slowest qualifiers for the final, Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) and Azusa Sumi (Toyokawa H.S.) breaking from the chase pack early in pursuit. By 800 m Margaret had started come back, and both Kuraoka and Sumi went by her with 200 m to go.  Kuraoka continued her momentum and dropped Sumi on the curve to take the win in 4:20.82.  Behind her the pack caught Margaret and made contact with S...

by Brett Larner With temperatures clipping 35 degrees the 2014 National Track and Field Championships kicked off July 30 in Kofu, Yamanashi, home ground of 2013 National High School Boys' Ekiden champion Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.   The biggest news on the first of the meet's five days of competition came in the boys' 400 m.  48 hours after helping the Japanese team win silver in the 4x400 m relay at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Eugene, U.S.A., Takamasa Kitagawa (Uruga H.S.) swept through the competition, winning his opening round heat in 48.22 and his semi-final in 47.23 before taking the final in 46.57, the 10th-fastest time ever by a Japanese high schooler.  Satoshi Yamamoto (Amakusa Kogyo H.S.) gave Kitagawa a solid challenge in the final but had to settle for 2nd in 46.61.  Seika Aoyama (Matsue Shogyo H.S.) had a clearer margin of victory in the girls' 400 m final, winning the national title in 53.73 by 0.21 seconds over runner-up Nanako Matsumot...