by Dai YamazakiThe "foreign student problem" is always a hot topic in the ekiden world, and this season will see big changes to the rules in high school ekidens. There has always been a lot of trial and error when it comes to international students in the ekidens, but what do the coaches on the front lines of competition think about these changes? We talked to Masaru Takamizawa, head coach of ..read more

At the high school, university and corporate league levels, national championships on the track are at an odd time in the Japanese calendar. After regional championships in May, college students and corporate leaguers don't have their national championship meets until September right after summer mileage base building for ekiden season. High schoolers have their regional meets in June, then their ..read more

Entry lists are out for Japan's National Championships at the end of the month in Niigata. Top three there with the standard or inside their event quota is the primary way for people who haven't yet to score places on the Paris Olympics team, and it's notable that three people with the standard, Abdul Hakim Sani Brown in the men's 100 m, Ryuji Miura in the men's 3000 mSC, and Shunsuke Izumiya in ..read more

On June 10th the Aomori Prefectural Sports Association handed down a warning to the Aomori Athletics Association after a former AAA director who resigned in April this year had improperly used funds to buy home appliances for personal use in 2019.The director, who had been in charge of accounting at the AAA, conducted a bank transfer of over 180,000 yen (~$1650 USD at the time) from the AAA ..read more

Two months out from his Olympic debut in the Paris Olympic Games in the men's 20 km race walk, Yuta Koga talked to media during a practice session in Naruto on June 10 about his hopes for his first Olympics. A native of Fukuoka, Koga, 24, belongs to the Otsuka Seiyaku corporate team. At the 2023 Budapest World Championships he was the top Japanese placer at 12th. In February this year he chopped ..read more

An update on standings for Japan's potential team at this summer's Paris Olympic Games. Final team nomination in most cases depends on a top 3 finish at the National Track and Field Championships, but as of this writing events where Japan could or will field three athletes having cleared the Olympic standard are the men's 110 mH, men's 400 mH, men's 20 kmRW and women's marathon. Other events ..read more

On June the KGRR released the entry lists for the Kanto Region qualifying race for the Nov. 3 National University Men's Ekiden. Taking place June 23 at Kanagawa's Sagamihara Gion Stadium, the Kanto Region qualifier consists of four heats of 10000 m, with participating school fielding two runners per heat and scored on the total time of its eight entrants. The seven fastest teams will go on to ..read more

Paris Olympics women's marathon team member Mao Ichiyama (Shiseido) ran the Mastercard New York Mini 10k in the U.S.A. this weekend. Running as part of her training, she was 25th in 35:41 in what will be her final race before the Paris Olympics.Ichiyama finished 8th at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and took 2nd at the Marathon Grand Championship Olympic trials race last Oct. 15 to qualify for her ..read more

At the Tokai University Time Trials meet June 8 at Tokai's Shonan Campus Field in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, Kazuto Iizawa, 23, of the Sumitomo Denko corporate team, ran 3:35.62 for 1500 m, the second-fastest time ever by a Japanese man. His time improved on his already all-time Japanese #2 3:35.77 from the May 12 Kinami Memorial Meet and missed the 3:35.42 national record held by Kazuki Kawamura, 26 ..read more

Two athletes from the Subaru men's corporate team who have already secured their places on Japan's teams for this summer's Paris Olympics and Paralympics visited the Gunma prefectural government to talk about their plans for the Games. Both set to run in their second-straight Games, Paralympics 1500 m and 5000 m runner Kenya Karasawa, 29, and 3000 m steeplechase specialist Ryuji Miura, 22, made ..read more