japan running news

Nobody can stay on top forever, and after 13-straight wins across the two major national-level university women's ekidens, 7-time defending champion Meijo University was knocked out of the top spot Sunday's Morinomiyako Ekiden in Sendai by a course record-breaking run from Ritsumeikan University . There was an element of more of the same, with last year's top 4 teams Meijo, Daito Bunka University , Ritsumeikan and Josai University all finishing in the top 4 again and all six of last year's individual winners, Tomo Muramatsu (Ritsumeikan), Sayuki Ota (Ritsumeikan), Asuka Ishimatsu (Meijo), Kokoro Nakachi (Ritsumeikan), Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka) and Nanase Tanimoto (Meijo) making the top 3 on their stages this time. Meijo was never really on its game, with last year's First Stage runner-up Nanaka Yonezawa 9th and second runner Nene Ueno only 10th on her leg. Meijo spent the rest of the race trying to dig its way out of that hole, but it only got as far as...

There are a lot of Japanese athletes racing overseas this weekend, but at home the main action is the National University Women's Half Marathon Sunday in Matsue. Last year's runner-up Rio Einaga of Osaka Gakuin University and 3rd and 5th-placers Saki Harada and Nanase Tanimoto from six-time national champion Meijo University lead the entry list, with their top competition including Saki Arai of Daito Bunka University , the anchor stage winner at December's Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national championship, Yuiri Ogata , Sakurako Yanai and Momoko Shimada from Mt. Fuji runner-up team Nittai University , and Yui Yoshii , Momona Yotsumoto and Mariya Noda from 3rd-place team Daito Bunka University . Complete entry list here . Overseas, the biggest block of Japanese athletes will be at Sound Running's The TEN in California. With a best of 31:34.39 Mikuni Yada (Edion) is the only Japanese woman in the meet, running the 10000 m Paris section. Hibiki Obara (Aoyama...

The Japanese team left Feb. 13 for this weekend's W orld University Cross Country Championships in Muscat, Oman. The men's team is made up of Hiroto Yoshioka (Juntendo Univ.), Shoya Saito (Josai Univ.), Haruki Sato (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) and Asahi Kuroda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.), with the women's team including Nana Miyahara (Fukuoka Univ.), Haruka Ogawa (Rikkyo Univ.), Rio Einaga (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) and Tomo Muramatsu (Ritsumeikan Univ.). Selection to the team was based on performances at last fall's National University Track and Field Championships, 10000 m PBs, and for women results at the 10000 m Collegiate Time Trials meet. As a 1st-year, Yoshioka was the top Japanese finisher at 4th overall in the National University Championships 5000 m. The World University Cross Championships will take place Sunday, Feb. 18 in Muscat, Oman. Both men and women will race 10 km. ◇2024世界大学クロスカントリー選手権大会 オマーン・マスカットで行われる2024世界大学クロスカントリー選手権大会に向け、日本代表選手が出発いたしました🛫 現地または、日本から選手たちへ熱...

  Osaka Geijutsu University performing arts major Hikaru Kitagawa kicked off the final day of the Chengdu World University Games with the first Japanese women's gold medal of the games in athletics, winning the half marathon in 1:13:17 by 14 seconds over Turkey's Yayla Kilic Gonen . And winning it in style. 3 seconds behind Kilic Gonen at 20 km, Kitagawa closed from there to the finish in 3:08, or 2:51/km pace, the kind of split you'd more often see in a men's race. You have to wonder if the 20 km split was accurate, but anyway Kitagawa made up 17 seconds in 1.0975 km, which is pretty good. Fatma Karasu made it a Turkish 2-3 with a 1:14:28 for bronze. Rio Einaga of Osaka Gakuin University was 8th in 1:15:34 and national champion Meijo University's Saki Harada 14th in 1:16:36, enough to land Japan the team silver behind Turkey. China took the team bronze. Japanese men usually dominate the World University Games half marathon given their focus on that distance for...