It is this university that threatens the champion Komazawa..! Hakone Ekiden: A Complete Guide to the “Gods of the Mountains” in the run-up to the 100th Ekiden!

Will the 4th “God of the Mountain” be born?

There are still some athletes to watch out for in this year’s Hakone. For example, Hibiki Yoshida (junior) of Soka University, who has emphatically declared that he wants to become the “God of Mountains,” was a student at Tokai University until his sophomore year, and ran the 5th section in his freshman year, finishing second in the section. Sportswriter Masayuki Sugizono, who has covered Hakone for eight years in a row, reveals, “At Tokai University, he suffered both mentally and physically.

Masayuki Sugizono, a sportswriter who has covered Hakone for eight years in a row, says, “At Tokai University, he suffered both mentally and physically and was driven to the point of quitting track and field. He always has a smile on his face when he talks to the press.

In his first two races as a Soka University student, in Izumo and All-Japan, he won a sectional prize.

Yuto Yamamoto, a senior at Josai University, who won the sectional award in the 5th section last time, beating the previous sectional record by 21 seconds, is also eager to assume the name of “God of the Mountain. Last time, he received the task in 13th place and helped his team to a seeding of 9th place, but he was only called the “mountain fairy. Writer Misa Fujii explains.

Yamamoto, who wears a white cap in practice, looked like a fairy as she ran lightly uphill.

The only “Gods of the Mountain” are Masato Imai (39), an alumnus of JUNDAI University, Ryuji Kashiwabara (34), an alumnus of Toyo University, and Daichi Jinno (30), an alumnus of Aoyama Gakuin University. Tetsuhiko Kim, who ran the 5th section for four consecutive years at Waseda University, said, “If the team does not finish in the top ranks, the “mountain gods” will not be able to compete.

If a team does not finish in the top ranks, they are not called ‘gods of the mountains.

In order for Yoshida and Yamamoto to be called “gods of the mountains,” they will have to use their own running to turn the tables on the stronger schools and break into the top group.

Junnen University’s Ryuji Miura (4th), who finished 6th in the 3000m steeplechase at the World Championships in August, Aoyama Gakuin University’s Asahi Kuroda (2nd), whose father has also run Hakone three times, and Tokyo University of Agriculture rookie Kazuma Maeda, the top Japanese in the Hakone preliminary round, will surely heat up the Hakone course.