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Koide Proteges Wakita and Niiya To Try For Berlin World Championships Team

http://runwoman.jp/rw/news/news_03rikujyou/post_175.php

translated and edited by Brett Larner

In the wake of former marathon national record holder Yoko Shibui's surprise declaration following the Dec. 14 All-Japan Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden that she has changed her spring marathon plans and will face off against debutante Yukiko Akaba at the Jan. 25 Osaka International Women's Marathon for a spot on the national team at the 2009 Berlin World Track and Field Championships, two members of the Jitsugyodan Ekiden-winning Team Toyota Jidoshoki announced their intent to try for a spot on the team.

2007 Osaka World Track and Field Championships 10000 m competitor Akane Wakita will, like Akaba, debut in January at Osaka. Wakita ran the 2007 World Championships at age 19 but since then has been in poor condition, missing her chance for the Beijing Olympics. Her stage 3rd-best performance behind Akaba on the 5th leg of the Jitsugyodan Ekiden was, however, instrumental in putting Team Toyota Jidoshoki into position for the win and showed that Wakita is back to form.

Wakita's teammate Hitomi Niiya, who won the first Tokyo Marathon in 2007 at age 18, has changed her original plan of returning to Tokyo, opting instead to run the Mar. 8 Nagoya International Women's Marathon. Niiya struggled in the year following her Tokyo win and was 2nd in the past summer's Hokkaido Marathon behind training partner Yukari Sahaku of Team Aruze, but has been a powerful presence in this fall's ekiden season.

Both Wakita and Niiya are coached by Yoshio Koide, who led Naoko Takahashi and several other of Japan's greatest women to world-level marathon success.
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Anonymous said…
First Koide declared that Hitomi Miyai would be "the next Q-chan."
She hasn't run a race in a long time and is no longer with Koide's unit.
Then, it was Hitomi Niiya's turn to be "the next Q-chan." She's doing OK but hasn't set the world on fire yet. Now the flavor of the month is Akane Wakita. She's doing ok, but still untested at the marathon. If he was smarter, Koide would just focus his energies on Mizohu Nasukawa.
December 18, 2008 at 4:52 AM
Brett Larner said…
I know what you mean. I'd probably include Yukari Sahaku on the list given the way they talked about her at Hokkaido this year.
December 18, 2008 at 8:38 PM
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