Skip to main content

Her Chances for the Olympics Hopeless, Yurika Nakamura Withdraws from Nagoya

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/0004831749.shtml

translated by Brett Larner

On Feb. 21 Beijing Olympic marathoner Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) announced that she has withdrawn from her planned run at the Mar. 11 Nagoya Women's Marathon because she has not been able to get into good enough shape.  The final selection race for the London Olympics marathon team, her withdrawal means that Nakamura has given up on trying to repeat as an Olympic marathoner.

Nakamura won her debut marathon at the 2008 Nagoya International Women's Marathon and finished 13th at the Beijing Olympics later that year.  However, running for the Okayama Prefecture team at January's National Women's Ekiden she finished only 42nd on the First Stage.  According to Tenmaya head coach Yutaka Taketomi, during her training in late January Nakamura was not getting back into shape.  "Even if she started, she is in no shape to run," he said in explaining the decision to pull her from Nagoya.  "London has been her goal ever since Beijing, so it's very unfortunate.  I decided to take her out in order to work on turning her back around."  Tenmaya's Risa Shigetomo is a favorite to make the London team after winning the Jan. 29 Osaka International Women's Marathon.

Translator's note: Nakamura was the only Japanese woman to finish the Beijing Olympic marathon.  Since her promising debut in 2008 every marathon she has run has been a PW.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Brett - While technically true that each marathon Yurika has run since her debut has been slower than the preceding marathon and therefore a "PW,", I think the term suggests a series of unmitigated disasters. While her 2:30:19 in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2:30:41 for 7th at Boston the following year were disappointments, I'd say last year's 2:41 in London would be the only one of her four career marathons that could be viewed as an out-and-out disaster.

Nagoya should be a dynamite race...last train to London, and likely a sayonara run for several women in the field!

Brendan Reilly
February 24, 2012 at 8:20 AM
Brett Larner said…
Thanks for the comment, Brendan. If you have any comments on what happened with her current situation it would be much appreciated. It's a shame that she won't be a part of what looks like a great race.
February 24, 2012 at 8:44 AM
geo s said…
Brendan, will be there??
February 27, 2012 at 12:26 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...
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

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...
53 comments
Read more