japan running news

by Brett Larner On the seventh day of competition at the 2013 Moscow World Championships, national champions Hitomi Shimura  (Saga T&F Assoc.) and Yuki Ebihara  (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) were both eliminated in the opening rounds of the women's 100 m hurdles and women's javelin.  200 m men Kei Takase  (Team Fujitsu) and Yuichi Kobayashi  (Team NTN) were likewise cut out in the heats, Kobayashi run down in the final meters of Heat Four after running virtually even with world record holder Usain Bolt  (Jamaica) coming off the curve.  2010 world junior champion Shota Iizuka  (Chuo Univ.) took 3rd in Heat Six to advance to the semi-finals, but with only a slight improvement there he was unable to advance to the final.  Iizuka remains the anchor of the Japanese men's 4x100 m relay team, but the team's hopes have been dimmed by the withdrawal of ace Ryota Yamagata (Keio Univ.) with a hamstring injury sustained in the 100 m heats. Moscow World ...

by Brett Larner The final day of the 2010 Japanese National University Track and Field Championships wrapped up with some of the best action of the meet's three days. Despite missing its three top-ranked runners Kiragu Njuguna (Kenya/Daiichi Kogyo Univ.), Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.) and Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.), the men's 5000 m field included 18 men with PBs under 14 minutes. The conditions, 32 degrees, sunny and windy, meant that the race would be slow and allow some of the slower men to have a chance. With the early leaders taking it out on track for a 14:10, Hiroki Mitsuoka (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) took full advantage of the situation. One of the only men in the field from outside the Kanto region, with just the 15th-best PB in the field, 13:57.67, Mitsuoka patiently waited until the final 800 m to get into the race. With no warning he suddenly kicked from 700 m out and dropped a 59-second 400 m. Pursued partway by Waseda University ace Yo Yazawa , Mitsuoka brok...