Skip to main content

Yoko Shibui Withdraws From World Championships Marathon With Likely Stress Fracture

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/track/news/20090820k0000e050009000c.html
http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/news/20090821k0000m050127000c.html?link_id=REH04

translated by Mika Tokairin and Brett Larner

Click here to enter JRN's World Championships marathon prediction contest for a chance to win a 2009 Japanese national team singlet.

After initial reports on Aug. 19, Rikuren officially confirmed on Aug. 20 that marathoner Yoko Shibui (30, Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) is withdrawing from the Aug. 23 World Championships women's marathon in Berlin, Germany. Shibui began experiencing discomfort in the upper right side of her right foot on Aug. 14. After arriving in Berlin, the discomfort developed into pain bad enough that Shibui consulted a doctor on Aug. 18. The diagnosis was a likely stress fracture of the 4th metatarsal.

Since alternate Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya) is also injured and unable to run, Japan will field a team of only four runners: Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren), Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei), Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC), and Yoshiko Fujinaga (Team Shiseido). In the Beijing Olympics two marathoners, Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) and Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) withdrew with injuries shortly before their races. Rikuren executive Keisuke Sawaki apologized to the public for Shibui's situation, saying, "Since Beijing I have been personally involved in overseeing athletes' condition, and I am very, very sorry this has happened."

Comments

walt said…
sorry to read this. i had the impression she might be ready.
Kevin said…
She's crazy. I thought this is what she really wanted after missing out in osaka and helsinki. They should tell Hara to run even though she's not on the team.
Anonymous said…
Hey Kevin, why not tell them to get Naoko Takahashi to run? She's already there as a commentator.
Kevin said…
There should be a replacement for shibui. They should picked Mizuho Nasukawa, Yumiko Hara, or Miki Ohira. It's much better for the japanese team if 5 runners show up
Brett Larner said…
Morimoto was the replacement. She is injured too.

Most-Read This Week

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .

Chesang Wins Osaka Women's Marathon in 2:19:31, Yada Drops 2:19:57 Debut NR

This year's Osaka International Women's Marathon was a race run with a high level of methodicalness, starting slower than the planned 3:19/km but ramping up until the lead pack was skimming around the 2:20:15-30 projected finish level. After hitting halfway in 1:10:13 with a group of 6, by 25 km only 4 were left up front, sub-2:19 runners Workenesh Edesa , Stella Chesang and Bedatu Hirpa , and the debuting Mikuni Yada , and when the last 2 pacers stepped off at 30 km it was Yada who went to the front. Despite never have raced longer than the 10.6 km Third Stage at November's Queens Ekiden where she had helped the Edion team score its first-ever national title, Yada was very, very impressive, fearlessly surging from 12 km and never letting up, even laughing and smiling to fans along the course. When she started sustaining a pace around 3:15/km the projected finish dropped under 2:20 and all the way down to 2:19:28 by 35 km, and even when all 3 of the more experienced ru...

Hirayama Breaks Osaka Half CR, Martinez Set Puerto Rican NR

The Osaka Half Marathon took another big step up the domestic half marathon rankings from a mass-participation race run alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon to one of the country's top-tier races. In the women's race, the debuting Jecinta Nyokabi (Denso) went out fast, only to be run down by veteran Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon AC) by 10 km. Nyokabi faded to 6th in 1:10:41, but Yoshikawa pushed on to a PB 1:09:14 for the win. Rina Shimizu (Noritz), Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) and Makoto Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.) all broke 70 minutes, Tsuchiya taking the Kansai Region collegiate title in 1:09:32 for 4th overall. Everyone in the top 10 who wasn't debuting ran a PB, a mark of how fast the day was even with cold and windy conditions. The men's race went out on sub-61 pace courtesy of Yudai Shimazu (GMO), then got a big injection of speed when Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu) took off close to 60-flat pace. Yokota opened a 10-second lead by 15 km, but over ...