Skip to main content

Defending World Champion Nakadai Fifth at 100 km World Championships

by Brett Larner

For the second-straight year, Shinji Nakadai (Harriers AC) was the top Japanese man at the IAU 100 km World Championships, held this year in Winschoten, Netherlands.  The defending individual men's world champion, Nakadai made no attempt to follow the reckless early pace set by eventual winner Giorgio Calcaterra, who averaged as fast as 3:42/km in the first stages of the race.  Neither did any of the other athletes in the field, as Calcaterra took the world title by a margin of over 15 minutes.  The strong American squad kept three men in the top pack throughout the race and ended up taking the individual silver and bronze medals as well as team gold led by veteran Michael Wardian.  Nakadai faded after 80 km, taking 5th in 6:48:32, but thanks in large part to a solid 10th-place run by teammate Yoshiki Takada Japan was able to nail down the team silver medal by just 1:51 over Calcaterra's Italy squad which went home with bronze.

The women's race saw a similarly dominating individual performance as Russia's Marine Bychkova won in 7:27:19 by nearly 14 minutes over British runner Joanna Zakrzewski.  South Africa's Lindsay Anne van Aswegen took the bronze medal less than a minute behind Zakrzewski.  Three Russian women finished in the top ten, giving the Russians the team gold to with Bychkova's individual medal.  The American women claimed silver with two women in the top ten.  The Japanese women's team were relatively weak individually, but thanks to a tight pack finish by top three members Naomi Ochiai, Yuko Ito and Shiho Katayama they managed to edge the South African and British squads for team bronze by a narrow margin.

2011 100 km World Championships
Winschoten, Netherlands, 9/10/11
click here for complete results

Men
1. Giorgio Calcaterra (Italy) - 6:27:32
2. Michael Wardian (U.S.A.) - 6:42:49
3. Andrew Henshaw (U.S.A.) - 6:44:35
4. Pieter Vermeesch (Belgium) - 6:47:01
5. Shinji Nakadai (Japan) - 6:48:32
6. Matt Wood (U.S.A.) - 6:50:23
7. Jonas Budd (Sweden) - 6:52:19
8. Yoshiki Takada (Japan) - 7:03:55
9. Andr Collet (Germany) - 7:04:35
10. Dominique Bordet (France) - 7:04:37
-----
18. Masakazu Takahashi (Japan) - 7:12:33
30. Kenichi Ito (Japan) - 7:32:19
39. Yoshikazu Hara (Japan) - 7:46:16
41. Shingo Inoue (Japan) - 7:47:35

Men's Teams
1. U.S.A. - 20:17:47
2. Japan - 21:05:00
3. Italy - 21:06:51

Women
1. Marine Bychkova (Russia) - 7:27:19
2. Joanna Zakrzewski (Great Britain) - 7:41:06
3. Lindsay Anne van Aswegen (South Africa) - 7:42:05
4. Irina Vishnevskaya (Russia) - 7:45:27
5. Meghan Arbogast (U.S.A.) - 7:51:10
6. Annette Bednosky (U.S.A.) - 7:54:59
7. Gloria Vinstedt (Sweden) - 7:55:09
8. Sabine Hofer (Austria) - 8:02:17
9. Kerry Jacqueline Koen (South Africa) - 8:06:29
10. Maria Aksenova (Russia) - 8:06:54
-----
12. Naomi Ochiai (Japan) - 8:10:14
13. Yuko Ito (Japan) - 8:11:13
14. Shiho Katayama (Japan) - 8:13:46
17. Mai Fujisawa (Japan) - 8:19:49
22. Akiko Oda (Japan) - 8:29:18
37. Wakako Oyagi (Japan) - 9:19:47

Women's Teams
1. Russia - 23:19:40
2. U.S.A. - 23:56:20
3. Japan - 24:35:13

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
5th place finisher in the Women's race is 50 years old. Congrats to all who competed this year.
September 11, 2011 at 4:45 PM
Lonneke said…
It was a great day! We watched all the runners with deep deep respect!! During the 10 laps, you could see how everybody was doing. On www.paulmellens.nl you can view many pictures taken of the runners, including the young ones. Hope to see you all again next year at The RUN in Winschoten!
September 12, 2011 at 7:11 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Rui Aoki and Shunsuke Kuwata Making U.S. Debut at United Airlines NYC Half

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University , Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara , who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone. Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runne...
2 comments
Read more

Kuwata Runs Fastest-Ever Half Marathon by Japanese Man Outside Japan at United Airlines NYC Half

When the NYRR changed the United Airlines NYC Half course back in 2018 to more or less its current Boston-style hilly one-way version it seemed like it had been repurposed from a fast course to something more tactical. That went out the window last year with new course records of 59:09 and 1:07:04 from Abel Kipchumba and Sharon Lokedi , and this year's results backed that up. Hellen Obiri ground Lokedi down and took over 30 seconds off her CR, winning in 1:06:33 with Lokedi only 6 seconds off what she ran in 2025 but a distant 2nd in 1:07:10. British road 10 km NR holder Megan Keith rolled up hard late in the race to finish 3rd in 1:07:13 less than 10 seconds off old CR too. The men's race saw a big group of 18 attack the hilly first half on sub-59 pace, American Joe Klecker leading through 5 km in 13:57 and Houston Marathon winner Zouhair Talbi through 10 km in 27:56. Right up in it was Shunsuke Kuwata , a 20-year-old 2nd-year at 2025 National University Ekiden champ Koma...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...
2 comments
Read more