translated by Brett Larner
Beijing Olympics women`s marathon team member Yurika Nakamura (22, Team Tenmaya) held a public practice session at the Okayama Prefectural Track in Okayama City on June 9. With two months to go to race day, Nakamura`s coach Yutaka Taketomi has indicated that her main focus until the Olympics is to improve her 10000 m time to be faster than those of teammates Mizuki Noguchi (29, Team Sysmex) and Reiko Tosa (31, Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo). The razor-sharp talent she showed while smashing down her targets in the Nagoya International Women`s Marathon is being further sharpened as she turns her attention to winning a medal.
To stand on the Olympic starting line with complete confidence, Nakamura wants to hone her dullest edge in some tangible way. The most important point facing her as she in turn faces her biggest race is to develop better speed than Noguchi and Tosa. Coach Taketomi explained, "Noguchi and Tosa are on a different level from Nakamura right now, so we must look for some strategy to enable her win. The answer is to break their 5000 and 10000 m times."
To qualify for the Olympics, Nakamura won her marathon debut Nagoya by lauching an aggressive attack at 32 km, successfully dropping a field which included Athens Olympics marathon team member Naoko Sakamoto and two-time World Championships marathon team member Yumiko Hara. The speed she demonstrated was like that of a track runner and was described by Rikuren officials as "destructive" and "annihilating." Nakamura already holds the fastest 5000 m time of the three Beijing marathon team members. Her 10000 m time is already better than Tosa`s, but she is still targeting Noguchi`s best time of 31:21.03, which Noguchi set at the 2004 Hyogo Relay Carnival just before winning the Athens Olympics marathon gold medal. Nakamura ran an encouraging PB of 31:31.95 at this year`s Hyogo Relay Carnival, but Coach Taketomi believes, "She can get near 31 flat."
Nakamura has no plans to run any further races before the Olympics, instead aiming to achieve her target time in training. Looking at the Olympics, Coach Taketomi says, "We want her to be in a position to go for the win if she can run with the lead pack to the 30 km point. There is no point going to the Olympics if you don`t think a medal is a possibility." By giving Nakamura a tangible number to chase in training, Taketomi hopes to give her the confidence to succeed in the Olympics.
Today`s practice consisted of fifteen 400 m intervals at a target pace. After the workout Nakamura commented, "My body feels a bit heavier than last week, but today`s workout went pretty much as planned." On June 11 Nakamura leaves for two months of training in Boulder and Albuqueque. "I`m aiming to reach my own measure of 100%." With her ability and attitude, Nakamura looks poised to become the next generation`s ace. She may also be the surprise dark horse of this Olympics.
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