Osaka International Women's Marathon Elite Field

All-time Japanese #4 in the marathon at 2:21:36 in her debut earlier this year in Nagoya, Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) leads the elite field for the Jan. 28 Osaka International Women's Marathon. Hoping for a comeback after an ineffectual run at the summer's London World Championships, Ando faces former under-20 Japanese record holder Reia Iwada (Dome) and debuting 10000 m national champion Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) as her main competition.

Eunice Jeptoo (Kenya) and Fayesa Robi (Ethiopia) lead the small international field with the debuting Gotytom Gebreslase (Ethiopia) throwing in an element of unpredictability, but with bests of only 2:26:13 and 2:27:04 it will take a combination of a breakthrough from any of them and a breakdown from Ando and Iwade to have a shot at the win. Along with Matsuda's exciting debut, Osaka will again be putting heavy emphasis on first-timers and university student runners, Ayano Ikemitsu (Kagoshima Ginko) leading the former with a 1:11:36 at last year's Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon and Honoka Tanaike (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) the latter with a 1:12:20 at this year's Matsue Ladies Half Marathon.

The Osaka International Women's Marathon will be broadcast live starting at 12:10 p.m. local time on Jan. 28. Check back closer to race date for more details.

37th Osaka International Women's Marathon Elite Field Highlights

Osaka, 1/28/18
click here for field listing
times listed are best within last three years except where noted

Yuka Ando (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:21:36 (Nagoya Women's 2017)
Reia Iwade (Japan/Dome) - 2:24:38 (Nagoya Women's 2016) - withdrawn
Eunice Jeptoo (Kenya) - 2:26:13 (Eindhoven 2017)
Fayesa Robi (Ethiopia) - 2:27:04 (Barcelona 2017)
Hisami Ishii (Japan/Yamada Denki) - 2:27:35 (Nagoya Women's 2017) - withdrawn
Anja Scherl (Germany) - 2:27:50 (Hamburg 2016)
Gladys Tejeda (Peru) - 2:28:12 (Rotterdam 2015)
Kaori Yoshida (Japan/Team RxL) - 2:28:24 (Nagoya Women's 2017)
Honami Maeda (Japan/Tenmaya) - 2:28:48 (Hokkaido 2017)
Izabela Trzaskalska (Poland) - 2:29:56 (Warsaw 2017)
Mari Ozaki (Japan/Noritz) - 2:29:56 (Osaka Women's 2015)
Asami Furuse (Japan/Kyocera) - 2:30:44 (Osaka Women's 2017)
Haruna Takada (Japan/Yamada Denki) - 2:31:17 (Nagoya Women's 2016)
Sayo Nomura (Japan/Uniqlo) - 2:32:49 (Osaka Women's 2014)
Hiroko Miyauchi (Japan/Hokuren) - 2:32:40 (Osaka Women's 2016)
Kyunghee Lim (South Korea) - 2:33:02 (Daegu 2017)
Mingming Jin (China) - 2:33:20 (Chongqing 2016)
Mitsuko Ino (Japan/Team R2) - 2:34:39 (Osaka 2017)
Kanae Shimoyama (Japan/Noritz) - 2:35:07 (Nagoya Women's 2016)
Yoko Miyauchi (Japan/Hokuren) - 2:35:09 (Nagoya Women's 2016)
Yoshiko Sakamoto (Japan/YWC) - 2:36:02 (Osaka 2016)
Esther Atkins (U.S.A.) - 2:36:11a (Bosotn 2017)
Azusa Nojiri (Japan/Raffine) - 2:36:53 (Osaka 2017)
Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh (Mongolia) - 2:37:10 (Xian 2017)
Eriko Kushima (Japan/Noritz) - 2:37:21 (Nagoya Women's 2017)
Mizuha Otaru (Japan/Kobe Gakuin Univ.) - 2:40:41 (Kobe 2017)
Wakana Hayashi (Japan/Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 2:42:05 (Osaka Women's 2017)
Riri Shiraishi (Japan/Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 2:43:19 (Tokyo 2017)

Debut
Mizuki Matsuda (Japan/Daihatsu) - 1:10:25 (National Corporate Half 2016)
Nazret Weldu (Eritrea) - 1:11:30 (Houston 2016)
Ayano Ikemitsu (Japan/Kagoshima Ginko) - 1:11:36 (Sanyo Ladies Half 2016)
Honoka Tanaike (Japan/Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 1:12:20 (Matsue Ladies Half 2017)
Hitomi Mizuguchi (Japan/Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 1:13:25 (Osaka Half 2017)
Maria Tanaka (Japan/Nittai Univ.) - 1:15:44 (Matsue Ladies Half 2015)
Gotytom Gebreslase (Ethiopia) - 49:56 (Utica Boilermaker 15 km 2017)

text and photo © 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Goshima and Kasai Win 10000 m National Titles, Maeda Breaks U20 Asian Record

Rino Goshima and Jun Kasai stepped up with PBs to win the 2024 National Championships 10000 m titles Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium. In the women's race, Goshima, 4th in last December's 2023 National Championships 10000 m, went out front from the start with Kenyan teammate Judy Jepngetich pacing and 2023 3rd-placer Haruka Kokai in tow. Things were never on track to hit the 30:40.00 Paris Olympics standard, but except for a brief dip to 3:08 at 7000 m Goshima held steady at 3:05 to 3:06/km even as Kokai and Jepngetich fell off. With blood dripping from her left knee after getting spiked by Jepngetich, Goshima closed in 3:03 to take 5 seconds off her best from December's Nationals and win in 30:53.31, moving up to all-time Japanese #6. Jepngetich also PBd at 31:09.42 without counting in the standings, with Kokai 2nd in 31:10.53 and Kazuna Kanetomo 3rd in a PB 31:59.29. The runner-up last time, Yuka Takashima was last in 33:33.27. The men's race went out in a

Golden Games in Nobeoka Top Results

For everyone not running yesterday's 10000 m National Championships , where the Asahi Kasei corporate team dominated the men's race with four out of four men sub-28 including winner Jun Kasai , 27:17.46, the grand dame of Japan's long distance time trial circuit was happening on AK's home ground in Miyazaki at the Golden Games in Nobeoka . Not including kids' races, a total of 74 women and 227 men ran in 14 heats of 5000 m, with a packed-in crowd of fans lining the track beating on metal sponsor boards with batons. It's a pretty awesome meet, and memorable performances included: National champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. standout Caroline Kariba continued to kill it in the second month of her corporate league career, winning the 5000 m A-heat in 15:00.95 in a race where 3 out of the top 4 including her ran PBs. National champion Meijo University seemed flat at this point in the season, with none of its people under 16 minutes and star Nanase Tanimoto leading

Ichiyama 8th at Copenhagen Marathon

Currently the #10-ranked Japanese man in the marathon with the fastest-ever domestic time at the elite Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) made his international debut at Sunday's Copenhagen Marathon , literally an international debut as it was his first time outside the country. Ichiyama hoped to be in contention to break the 2:08:23 CR and go for the win, and with cool and breezy conditions ran easy in the lead group through 30 km. But something ate away at almost everyone as time went by, several people in the lead men's and women's groups saying humidity, and past 30 km Ichiyama fell off. Falling as low as 9th, he rallied after 40 km to finish 8th in 2:13:07. "It was different than in Japanese races," he said. "I'm used to bigger packs and more even pacing, but this was a kind of racing I hadn't done before. There's a lot to think about. I didn't feel like I was sweating a lot, but I got really thirsty and started sk

japan running news

Search This Blog