Skip to main content

Japanese Women Sweep Half Marathon at World University Games (updated)

by Brett Larner

Click photo for full-sized version.

The women's and men's half marathon kicked off the biggest day of long distance action at the 2009 World University Games, and the Japanese women did what they do best. Josai University's Chisato Saito led Kikuyo Tsuzaki and Sayo Nomura of Meijo University to a Japanese sweep of the women's half marathon. The relatively easy pace played into the hands of Tsuzaki and Nomura, the only runners in the field with PB marks under 72 minutes, but for Saito the win required an A-level effort as she ran just 3 seconds off her PB in 1:13:44. "I didn't expect to win at all, so more than happy I'm just surprised," Saito told reporters after the race.

Tsuzaki finished 19 seconds back in 2nd, with Nomura taking 3rd by a margin of 23 seconds over 4th placer Jong-Hyang Kim of North Korea who was more than a minute off the winning time. Asian runners took 9 of the top 11 positions.

The men's race was a more balanced competition, with the top 8 finishing within a minute of winner Ran Zhao of China, who outkicked newly-graduated Tomoya Onishi, the former leader of 2009 Hakone Ekiden winner Toyo University, by 2 seconds to take the gold in 1:04:28. Italian Francesco Bona likewise outkicked Komazawa University star Soji Ikeda for bronze, finishing 5 seconds behind silver medalist Onishi in 1:04:35 with Ikeda close behind in 1:04:39. A gap separated the top four from the rest of the field. Onishi's former Toyo teammate Yoshihiro Wakamatsu was the only Japanese half marathoner to have an off day, finishing 11th in 1:05:54.

2009 World University Games - Top Finishers
click event headers for complete results
Women's Half Marathon
1. Chisato Saito (Josai Univ.) - 1:13:44
2. Kikuyo Tsuzaki (Meijo Univ.) - 1:14:03
3. Sayo Nomura (Meijo Univ.) - 1:14:23
4. Jong-Hyang Kim (North Korea) - 1:14:46
5. Rasa Drazdauskaite (Lithuania) - 1:15:00 - PB
6. Mi Gyong Kim (North Korea) - 1:15:11
7. Ho Sun Park (South Korea) - 1:15:28
8. Yon Hui Rim (North Korea) - 1:15:59
9. Filomena Costa (Portugal) - 1:16:16
10. Seong Eun Kim (South Korea) - 1:16:17

Men's Half Marathon
1. Ran Zhao (China) - 1:04:28
2. Tomoya Onishi (Toyo Univ.) - 1:04:30
3. Francesco Bona (Italy) - 1:04:35 - PB
4. Soji Ikeda (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:04:39
5. Vasyl Matviychuk (Ukraine) - 1:05:00
6. Abdellatif Ait Hsine (Morocco) - 1:05:08
7. Reginaldo Campos (Brazil) - 1:05:17
8. Abderrahim El Jaafari (Morocco) - 1:05:24
9. Tamas Kovacs (Hungary) - 1:05:35
10. Jin Hyeok Jeong (South Korea) - 1:05:42
11. Yoshihiro Wakamatsu (Toyo Univ.) - 1:05:54

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr