Skip to main content

Noguchi Aims to Make Comeback "Starting With a Half"

http://www.daily.co.jp/newsflash/2010/06/11/0003080689.shtml

translated by Brett Larner

Long off the field of battle and sitting on the sidelines, marathoner Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) attended a June 11 memorial service for Hanji Aoki, an honorary member of Rikuren's directory board and one of the luminaries of the Japanese athletics world. Asked about her condition, Noguchi told reporters "I'm back in training. It's not to the point where I can plan my next race. But anyway, my main focus is on getting my muscles back into the condition they used to be in."

At the memorial service Noguchi sat at the same table with the women who preceeded her as Olympic marathon medalists, Yuko Arimori and Naoko Takahashi. "We talked a bit," said Noguchi. "They told me that I have to make a comeback, that I can't keep on like this. I was really happy to hear such warm words of support coming from people like them. It makes me want to do it," she said with a smile which showed that her drive to make the London Olympics is still burning strong.

"I don't know when my comeback race will be yet," she went on, "but I'm back to working on my speed on the track. I'd like to start with a half marathon." For the former 'Queen of the Half Marathon' it would be a major step to return to her best distance.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I would love to see her back. Her race in Athens was one of the bravest and smartest races I've ever seen run.
hotboykevin said…
No one knows her anymore. She's irrelevant. I'm moving on to the Lakers and the world cup.
hotboykevin said…
Nothing much is going on these days. And the japanese runners are running slow. only run 34:00 10000. @008-2007 was way better.Lots of good japanese runners are retiring and none of them run track.

Most-Read This Week

Keita Satoh Running New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile

1500 m U20 NR holder Keita Satoh (Nike Swoosh TC) is running this weekend's New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile , the first time that a Japanese man has been invited in the race's 45-year history. In university Sato had to change focus away from middle distance to the half marathon-scale lengths of the Hakone Ekiden stages, but since graduating in March and relocating to Flagstaff he has refocused on the 1500 m, going from 3:43.19 in April in his first 1500 m in almost 4 years to 3:38.30 over the course of 5 races. Fifth Avenue will be his last race before heading back to Japan for one more track 1500 m and some down time. Men's entries with best 1500 m times in last 3 years: Stefan Nillessen (NED) - 3:29.23 (2025) Flavien Szot (FRA) - 3:30.74 (2025) Oliver Hoare (AUS) - 3:31.07 (2024) Jake Heyward (GBR) - 3:31.18 (2026) Titouan Le Grix (FRA) - 3:31.46 (2026) Romain Mornet (FRA) - 3:31.62 (2025) Adam Spencer (AUS) - 3:31.83 (2026) Pieter Sisk (BEL) - 3:31.85 (2025) Gary Martin (...

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...