Skip to main content

Shibui Returns From Arizona "Ready to Run" After Considering Dropping Out of World Championships

translated and edited by Brett Larner
source articles at bottom

Marathoner Yoko Shibui (30, Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) returned to Japan from her high-altitude training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona on Aug. 10 ahead of her run at the Berlin World Championships on Aug. 23. With regard to the left thigh injury she suffered in April Shibui said, "It more or less doesn't hurt. My balance is back to normal and I can run like I did before again. I'm not going to think bad thoughts any more. I'm ready to run."

Last month before leaving for Flagstaff Shibui ran dismally at the Sapporo International Half Marathon, finishing 23rd and clocking her worst-ever mark for the distance. "At the time I thought, 'There's no way I can run [the World Championships] now," she said, her first public admission that she had considered dropping out of this year's Championships. Once arriving in Arizona, however, she began to feel good in training. "I started clawing my way up out of the hole," Shibui said of the camp.

In Flagstaff Shibui completed only one 30 km run, but as part of her training in the U.S. she ran the San Francisco marathon on July 26, winning in 2:46:34. "I was really irritated by how many hills there were," she laughed. "I've never run such a hard course before." Her coach Takao Watanabe commented, "After San Francisco she was a different person."

While training in Flagstaff Shibui was avidly following online the plight of actress Noriko Sakai who was arrested this week on charges of amphetamine usage. "I can understand how someone would want to escape reality when things start going wrong," Shibui said of Sakai. With regard to her own troubles this spring, though, Shibui said, "My determination is set. It's not going to break. I hope that I can use all the hardship I've been having to help me deal with the hard parts of the race."

Shibui leaves for Berlin on Aug. 16, one week before the big race. Coach Watanabe said, "The most important thing now is to keep her condition from slipping. Her peak is still to come." In the 2001 Edmonton World Championships marathon Shibui was 4th. This time, she says, "I'm going to improve on what I did eight years ago."

http://www.sanin-chuo.co.jp/sports/modules/news/article.php?storyid=993458008
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/news/p-sp-tp0-20090811-529677.html
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2009/08/11/08.html
http://www.chunichi.co.jp/chuspo/article/sports/news/CK2009081102000117.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/2009/news/f-sp-tp0-20090810-529554.html
http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/090811/spg0908110532000-n1.htm
Labels:

Comments

Brett Larner said…
Hmmn, this doesn't sound very promising.
August 12, 2009 at 10:14 AM
Simon Phillips said…
Should make for an exciting race though in a "will she, won't she?" type of way. Hope she does well.
August 13, 2009 at 6:17 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

'CAS Clears Japan’s Olympic Silver Medallist Ikeda of Doping, Overturns Ban'

https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/10/23/cas-clears-japans-olympic-silver-medallist-ikeda-of-doping-overturns-ban The AIU's missteps in this case cost Tokyo Olympics and Oregon World Championships 20 km race walk silver medalist Koki Ikeda , a Toyo University graduate who competes for the Asahi Kasei corporate team, the chance to represent Japan at a home soil World Championships last year. It is almost unheard of for an athlete to successfully fight a biological passport suspension as Ikeda did, making this a highly significant case. The CAS' press release about its decision stated: "The Panel stressed that the Athlete did not merely assert his position on the ABP abnormalities but adduced very extensive evidence in support of his explanations. In this highly complex case, the evidence brought during the CAS proceedings was far more abundant and specific than during the first instance proceedings with the WA Disciplinary Tribunal, implying the CAS Panel had further ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meijo Back With Morinomiyako Ekiden CR for National University Title

The last big dynasty school in Japanese women's distance running with 7-straight wins at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden from 2017 to 2023 and 6-straight titles at the season-ending Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden from 2018 to 2023, Meijo University came back from a 3rd-place finish last year to win the 44th Morinomiyako Ekiden again, leading almost start-to-finish to set a 2:02:21 CR for the 6-stage, 38.0 km course in Sendai. 12 second back in 2nd after the opening leg, collegiate 3000 mSC champ Nozomi Kondo put Meijo out front with a 12:36 CR for the 4.0 km Second Stage, and the rest of the team never looked back. The biggest threat to a Meijo win was on the 9.2 m Fifth Stage, where this year's collegiate 10000 m winner Sarah Wanjiru from last year's runner-up Daito Bunka University started 50 seconds back from Meijo 1st-year Mao Kimura . In taking the 10000 m title Wanjiru had outrun Kimura by over a minute, but today Kimura was a revelation, strong and smooth out fr...
1 comment
Read more

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
8 comments
Read more