Hot on the heels of the London Marathon field announcement, the
Tokyo Marathon has put its 2019 elite field into the public sphere. With a new date a week later on March 3rd thanks to the impending Imperial succession Tokyo has at last put together a proper elite women's field at parity with the men's field, one including top-level Japanese women for the first time. Change is slow to come, but with this field it looks like it has arrived. 2:18:34 for 2nd in Berlin last year,
Ethiopian
Ruti Aga leads 14 women with times 2:23 or better in the last 3 years. Half are Ethiopian, two Kenyan, two Bahraini and three Japanese, with two high-level first-timers, Kenya's
Joan Chelimo Melly and Japan's
Mao Ichiyama, tacked on. #2 through #4-ranked women
Boru Feyse Tadese,
Yebrgual Melese and
Ababel Yeshaneh all ran 2:19 to 2:20 last year, making the chances of an Ethiopian sweep definitely greater than zero.
The structure of Japanese national team selection and marketing-related f…
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