Weekend Overseas Japanese Results

Japanese men lined up at three major overseas races Sunday. At the Netherlands' Eindhoven Marathon, 2:07:39 marathoner Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu), coached by 1992 Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita, was ranked 3rd in the field on PB but ran only 2:17:00 for 10th after fading from the lead pack early in the second half.

At Boston's B.A.A. Half the race was hurt by the late withdrawal of aggressive sub-61 half marathoner Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) with illness. In his absence Suguru Osako (NOP) and Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu), the latter a former teammate of Murayama's at Komazawa University, sat in the lead pack throughout the race without exerting pressure despite a very slow pace. Two-time defending champ Daniel Salel (Kenya) made it three in a row, easily outkicking Osako to win in 1:04:31, Osako next across the line in 1:04:42 and Nakamura 4th in 1:04:50. Two other Japanese men were non-factors, Ken Yokote (Fujitsu) 7th in 1:05:57 and Yudai Okamoto (JFE Steel) 33rd in 1:18:21.

At the Chicago Marathon, 2014 Asian Games silver medalist Kohei Matsumura (MHPS) was the top Japanese finisher at 6th in 2:11:48. Fading from the lead pack after 25 km, Matsumura was caught by sub-61 half marathoner Chihiro Miyawaki (Toyota), who pulled Matsumura back into the lead pack just before last year's winner Abel Kirui (Kenya) made the move that opened the race up after a slow 1:06:10 first half. Matsumura was one of eight men up front to negative split the race, with Miyawaki fading to 11th in 2:13:23. Ryoichi Matsuo (Asahi Kasei) was 18th in 2:15:50.

Elsewhere, Teppei Suegami won the Portland Marathon in 2:23:43, with Mai Fujisawa 3rd in the women's race in 2:58:41.

Eindhoven Marathon
Eindhoven, Netherlands, 10/8/17
click here for complete results

Men
1. Festus Talam (Kenya) - 2:06:13
2. Felix Kiptoo Kirwa (Kenya) - 2:06:13
3. Marius Kipserem (Kenya) - 2:06:43
4. Dejene Debela Gonfe (Ethiopia) - 2:07:10
5. Cosmas Jairus Kipchoge (Kenya) - 2:08:45
-----
10. Masato Imai (Japan/Toyota Kyushu) - 2:17:00

B.A.A. Half Marathon
Boston, U.S.A., 10/8/17
click here for complete results

Men
1. Daniel Salel (Kenya) - 1:04:31
2. Suguru Osako (Japan/NOP) - 1:04:42
3. Tesfaalem Gebrearegawi (Ethiopia) - 1:04:46
4. Shogo Nakamura (Japan/Fujitsu) - 1:04:50
5. Abdi Abdirahman (U.S.A.) - 1:05:11
-----
7. Ken Yokote (Japan/Fujitsu) - 1:05:57
33. Yudai Okamoto (Japan/JFE Steel) - 1:18:21

Chicago Marathon
Chicago, U.S.A., 10/8/17
click here for complete results

Men
1. Galen Rupp (U.S.A.) - 2:09:20 - PB
2. Abel Kirui (Kenya) - 2:09:48
3. Bernard Kipyego (Kenya) - 2:10:23
4. Sisay Lemma (Ethiopia) - 2:11:01
5. Stephen Sambu (Kenya) - 2:11:07 - PB
-----
6. Kohei Matsumura (Japan/MHPS) - 2:11:48
11. Chihiro Miyawaki (Japan/Toyota) - 2:13:23
18. Ryoichi Matsuo (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 2:15:50

Portland Marathon
Portland, U.S.A., 10/8/17
click here for complete results

Men
1. Teppei Suegami (Japan) - 2:23:43
2. Donovan Fellows (U.S.A.) - 2:24:05
3. Justin Banks (U.S.A.) - 2:34:47

Women
1. Allison Goldstein (U.S.A.) - 2:50:26
2. Moira O'Connor (U.S.A.) - 2:57:57
3. Mai Fujisawa (Japan) - 2:58:41

Miyawaki photo © 2017 Dr. Helmut Winter, all rights reserved
text © 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

10000 m National Championships Preview

Less than five months since the 2023 10000 m National Championships went down at the 2021 Olympic stadium in Tokyo, the 2024 edition happens Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium, with NHK broadcasting it live starting at 19:25 local time. Doubling up on Nationals like this lets Japanese athletes double dip on placing points to try to get into the Paris Olympics on rankings. But between the number of people who've hit the 30:40.00 women's standard and 27:00.00 men's standard and the lopsided eight spots given away to top placers at World XC, there are only four women's spots and three men's available via rankings. Of those, three of the four women's spots and two of the three men's spots are currently occupied by top placers at December's 2023 Nationals, Ririka Hironaka , Haruka Kokai and Rino Goshima for women and Ren Tazawa and Tomoki Ota for men. The 2023 Nationals did get close to the standards, with Hironaka leading the top four women under

Goshima and Kasai Win 10000 m National Titles, Maeda Breaks U20 Asian Record

Rino Goshima and Jun Kasai stepped up with PBs to win the 2024 National Championships 10000 m titles Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium. In the women's race, Goshima, 4th in last December's 2023 National Championships 10000 m, went out front from the start with Kenyan teammate Judy Jepngetich pacing and 2023 3rd-placer Haruka Kokai in tow. Things were never on track to hit the 30:40.00 Paris Olympics standard, but except for a brief dip to 3:08 at 7000 m Goshima held steady at 3:05 to 3:06/km even as Kokai and Jepngetich fell off. With blood dripping from her left knee after getting spiked by Jepngetich, Goshima closed in 3:03 to take 5 seconds off her best from December's Nationals and win in 30:53.31, moving up to all-time Japanese #6. Jepngetich also PBd at 31:09.42 without counting in the standings, with Kokai 2nd in 31:10.53 and Kazuna Kanetomo 3rd in a PB 31:59.29. The runner-up last time, Yuka Takashima was last in 33:33.27. The men's race went out in a

Golden Games in Nobeoka Top Results

For everyone not running yesterday's 10000 m National Championships , where the Asahi Kasei corporate team dominated the men's race with four out of four men sub-28 including winner Jun Kasai , 27:17.46, the grand dame of Japan's long distance time trial circuit was happening on AK's home ground in Miyazaki at the Golden Games in Nobeoka . Not including kids' races, a total of 74 women and 227 men ran in 14 heats of 5000 m, with a packed-in crowd of fans lining the track beating on metal sponsor boards with batons. It's a pretty awesome meet, and memorable performances included: National champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. standout Caroline Kariba continued to kill it in the second month of her corporate league career, winning the 5000 m A-heat in 15:00.95 in a race where 3 out of the top 4 including her ran PBs. National champion Meijo University seemed flat at this point in the season, with none of its people under 16 minutes and star Nanase Tanimoto leading

japan running news

Search This Blog