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Japanese national 10,000m championship sees 17 men break 28 minutes

Only one Canadian man broke 28 minutes in 2019

The Olympic qualification window reopened on December 1, which means that this will be the biggest weekend of running we’ve seen in months. Over the next three days, there’s the Valencia half and full marathon, Track Meet and the Japanese National Distance Finale. In Japan, races have already gotten underway and seen some stellar results. Last night the men’s race saw 17 men go under 28 minutes in the 10,000m, with the first three all breaking the Japanese national record and the top two running Olympic standard. In 2019, over the course of an entire year, only one Canadian man broke 28 minutes (Mohammed Ahmed‘s national record of 26:59). 

The winner of the race, Akira Aizawa, set a new national record of 27:18.75. Second place went to Bernard Koech in 27:19.42 and third to Tatsuhiko Ito in 27:25.73. Nike’s Suguru Osako (who holds the national record in the marathon at 2:05:29) finished sixth in a personal best of 27:36.93. Full results can be found here

RELATED: Emily Sisson to attempt U.S. half-marathon record this weekend in Valencia

In the women’s race, national half-marathon record holder, Hitomi Niiyaran a killer race to finish in 30:20.44. For context, in 2019 only 17 Canadian men ran faster. It’s nearly a minute and a half faster than our women’s national record.

Niiya broke an 18-year-old record of 30:48.89, which was held by Yoko Shibui. Women-only marathon NR holder Mao Ichiyama finished second, under the Olympic standard, in 31:11.56. 

RELATED: The Rundown: Olympian Mohammed Ahmed smashes the Canadian 5000m record to crack the top-10 all-time

If you’re looking to follow the running action taking place over the weekend, below are the links and times to watch. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CIKEapppXaI/

RELATED: World Athletics amends Olympic qualification timeline for road athletes

How to follow Track Meet

Tonight is the 5,000m at Track Meet, which features a strong Canadian contingent. Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, Thomas Fafard, Will Paulson, Jean-Simon Desgagnes and Taryn O’Neill will all be racing this evening. Racing gets underway at 7:40 p.m. PT (10:40 p.m. ET). 

Heats can be found here.

The link to watch can be found here

How to follow Valencia

Valencia gets underway at 2:00 a.m. ET (8:00 a.m. local time) on Sunday. Unfortunately, there won’t be any Canadians in this race, but there will be two American record attempts, several exciting debuts and a possible threat to Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele’s dominance of the 2:01 club.

The link to watch can be found here

A full preview of the event can be found here

RELATED: Valencia Marathon boasts deepest field ever

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