Skip to main content

JAAF Announces Japanese Women's and Men's Marathon Teams for Rio Olympics

by Brett Larner

The JAAF announced the Japanese women's and men's marathon team lineups for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics at a press conference on Mar. 17 streamed live worldwide.  Surprisingly there were no surprises, no controversial calls, the athletes chosen for the team the most likely based on the complicated selection criteria.

The women's team includes 2016 Osaka Women's winner Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal), 2016 Nagoya Women's runner-up Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) and 2015 World Championships 7th-placer Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku).  The men's team is made up of 2015 Fukuoka 3rd-placer Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei), 2015 Lake Biwa runner-up Hisanori Kitajima (Team Yasukawa Denki) and 4th-placer Suehiro Ishikawa (Team Honda).  No alternates were named in the event, likely given recent history, that any of the team members does not make the starting line, and no one was named to the team from two of the selection races, last year's Saitama International Women's Marathon and this year's Tokyo Marathon, where the top Japanese finishers were Kaori Yoshida (Runners Pulse), 2nd in a PB of 2:28:43, and Yuki Takamiya (Team Yakult), 8th in a PB of 2:10:57.

With only Tanaka still in her 20s the teams have average ages of 31 for the women and just over 32 for the men, Ishikawa at 36 being the oldest Japanese man ever to break 2:10 with his 2:09:25 two weeks ago at Lake Biwa.  Of the six Fukushi looks like the best medal prospect, a bronze medal at the 2013 Moscow World Championships and a 2:22:17 win in Osaka in January, all-time #7 among Japanese women, to her name.  Tanaka, controversially left off of last year's Beijing World Championships team despite winning one of the selection races in a quality time, showed tremendous improvement with her all-time Japanese #11 2:23:19 last weekend in Nagoya and could be a top-eight contender.  Ito, 7th in Beijing, has never been flashy but has shown a lot of stability and should play a solid support role.

Among the men Kitajima has the slowest PB at only 2:09:16 two weeks ago in Lake Biwa, but given his success so far in just over a year as a marathoner, winning his debut in February last year in 2:12:28, winning again in Sydney in September in 2:12:44 on a tough course and then coming just 5 seconds short of winning Lake Biwa, and his status of training partner to London Olympics 6th-placer and Moscow World Championships 5th-placer Kentaro Nakamoto, he's likely to be Japan's top man in Rio.  Ishikawa has proven himself to be competent and reliable at home and abroad and should have top ten potential, three of his six marathons having been 2:09s in Japan and the others a 2:10 and a 2:11 in Berlin and a 2:11 debut.  Fastest of the three on paper, Sasaki is more of a wildcard, his marathon career not especially impressive before diet and training changes helped him break 2:09 in Fukuoka last December.  If he really did hit on something with the changeup to his regimen then expect a strong team run from all three Japanese men come August.

Women

Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) - D.O.B. Mar. 25, 1982
P.B.: 2:22:17 (2016 Osaka International Women's Marathon)

Marathon History
1st - 2016 Osaka International Women's Marathon - 2:22:17
4th - 2015 Chicago Marathon - 2:24:25
6th - 2014 Berlin Marathon - 2:26:25
3rd - 2013 Moscow World Championships Marathon - 2:27:45
1st - 2013 Osaka International Women's Marathon - 2:24:21
8th - 2012 Osaka International Women's Marathon - 2:37:35
2nd - 2011 Chicago Marathon - 2:24:38
19th - 2008 Osaka International Women's Marathon - 2:40:54

Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) - D.O.B. Sept. 25, 1988
P.B.: 2:23:19 (2016 Nagoya Women's Marathon)

Marathon History
2nd - 2016 Nagoya Women's Marathon - 2:23:19
8th - 2015 Berlin Marathon - 2:28:00
1st - 2014 Yokohama International Women's Marathon - 2:26:57
4th - 2014 Nagoya Women's Marathon - 2:26:05

Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - D.O.B. May 23, 1984
P.B.: 2:24:42 (2015 Nagoya Women's Marathon)

Marathon History
7th - 2015 Beijing World Championships Marathon - 2:29:48
3rd - 2015 Nagoya Women's Marathon - 2:24:42
7th - 2014 Vienna Marathon - 2:35:15
7th - 2014 Tokyo Marathon - 2:28:36
3rd - 2013 Hokkaido Marathon - 2:32:54
7th - 2013 London Marathon - 2:28:37
5th - 2012 Yokohama International Women's Marathon - 2:27:06
5th - 2012 Nagoya Women's Marathon - 2:25:26
22nd - 2011 Daegu World Championships Marathon - 2:35:16
2nd - 2011 Osaka International Women's Marathon - 2:26:55
4th - 2010 Nagoya International Women's Marathon - 2:29:13

Men

Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) - D.O.B. Oct. 16, 1985
P.B.: 2:08:56 (2015 Fukuoka International Marathon)

Marathon History
3rd - 2015 Fukuoka International Marathon - 2:08:56
9th - 2015 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon - 2:14:27
17th - 2014 Chicago Marathon - 2:15:25
2nd - 2014 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon - 2:09:47
9th - 2013 Fukuoka International Marathon - 2:13:12
16th - 2013 Tokyo Marathon - 2:11:28
14th - 2011 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon - 2:12:42
20th - 2010 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon - 2:19:23
7th - 2009 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon - 2:14:00

Suehiro Ishikawa (Team Honda) - D.O.B. Sept. 27, 1979
P.B.: 2:09:10 (2013 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon)

Marathon History
4th - 2016 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon - 2:09:25
13th - 2014 Tokyo Marathon - 2:09:29
7th - 2013 Berlin Marathon - 2:10:24
6th - 2013 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon - 2:09:10
11th - 2012 Berlin Marathon - 2:11:46
13th - 2012 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon - 2:11:13

Hisanori Kitajima (Team Yasukawa Denki) - D.O.B. Oct. 16, 1984
P.B.: 2:09:16 (2016 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon)

Marathon History
2nd - 2016 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon - 2:09:16
1st - 2015 Sydney Marathon - 2:12:44
1st - 2015 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon - 2:12:28

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Ninja Runner Yuka Ando Leads Japanese Women's Marathon Team in London: "I Want to Go For It"

Her form has been dubbed "ninja running." Both arms held straight down with almost no movement. That idiosyncratic style carried Yuka Ando , 23, to the fastest-ever marathon debut by a Japanese woman, 2:21:36, at March's Nagoya Women's Marathon to land at #4 on the all-time Japanese lists. All at once Ando found herself catapulted to the top level of women's marathoning, a candidate for Japan's next great marathoner. When she was younger Ando ran moving her arms like other runners, but she had a bad habit of moving robotically, her upper body and lower body not working in sync. The turning point came in 2014 when she joined Suzuki Hamamatsu AC . Working there with coach Masayuki Satouchi to eliminate the faults in her form, the pair arrived at the ninja running style that let her run relaxed. "Other people keep asking me, "Isn't it hard to run like that?" but for me it's comfortable," she said. The efficient form helped her mai

Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half - Weekend Overseas Results

2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men's race at the United Airlines NYC Half , taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University , Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN's development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts. Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month's National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito

Rui Aoki Wins National University Men's Half Marathon - Weekend Results

Yuka Ando 's win at the Nagoya Women's Marathon was the big news of the weekend, but there were other high-level races happening, even in Nagoya. Held in parallel with the marathon, the Nagoya City Half Marathon saw Australians Natalie Rule and Ed Goddard take easy wins by about 2.5 minutes each, Rule in 1:13:57 and Goddard in 1:04:01. The new Biwako Marathon also had a non-Japanese winner, China's Yousheng Guan scoring 1st in 2:14:58 with Japan's Hirohito Sugai next in 2:16:40. Mikiko Ota won the women's race in 2:50:44. The Shizuoka Marathon returned for its first running in five years, with club runner Shumpei Oda leading the top 7 men under 2:20 in 2:15:36. Women's winner Remi Tanaka ran 2:41:23, beating runner-up Ayumi Sano by exactly 7 minutes. And in Tokyo, Rui Aoki continued what has been a great season so far for Koku Gakuin University with a win at the National University Men's Half Marathon . Aoki and Hiro Konda of Chuo Gakuin Unive