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Ekiden Weekend Breakdown

October is the official start of ekiden season, and this past weekend had the first 3 big races. Saturday in Chiba was the Kanto Region University Women’s Ekiden, the regional qualifier for the Morinomiyako Ekiden in Sendai at the end of the month. Daito Bunka University, Josai University, Takushoku University and Tsukuba University were already qualified thanks to podium finishes at Morinomiyako

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Four New Meet Records on National Sports Festival Day 2

4 meet records fell on the second day of the 2025 National Sports Festival in Shiga. In the junior men’s pole vault, Naoya Inoue (Anan Hikari H.S.) was the only one to go higher than 4.80 m, and massively so. Inoue cleared 5.32 m on his 3rd attempt, setting a new MR and beating his closest competition by 52 cm.800 m NR holders Rin Kubo (Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S.) and Ko Ochiai (Komazawa Univ.)

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Shubulchuk, Taya and Niizuma Dominate on National Sports Festival Day 1

Fresh off last weekend’s U20 National Championships, Anna Shubulchuk (Ushiku H.S.) and Rei Taya (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) were back in the junior women’s 2000 mSC to start off the first day of the 2025 National Sports Festival in Shiga. Shubulchuk, born in Japan to Slovakian and Bulgarian parents, won the 3000 mSC at the U20 Nationals in 9:57.11, while Taya set an U18 NR of 10:06.59 in the