Top 5 Finishers at Olympic Trials to Earn Olympic Qualification Regardless of Time

On July 3 the JAAF announced that the IAAF has agreed to grant the top five finishers at Japan's Olympic trials marathon, the Sept. 15 MGC Race, Olympic qualification status. The IAAF had previously set time marks of 2:11:30 for men and 2:29:30 for women as the standards necessary for participation in the Olympic marathon, but it will now be possible for the top two finishers at the MGC Race to be named Japan's national representatives regardless of their times.

The Olympic qualifying times need to have been achieved since Jan. 1, 2019. Many of Japan's leading athletes, including men's national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike), have not meet the standards despite having easily cleared them prior to Jan. 1 this year. Due to the expected hot conditions at the MGC Race and the likelihood of a tactical race there were concerns that people may not achieve the standards in the MGC Race itself and as a result would not be able to be confirmed as national representatives. 31 men and 12 women are entered in the MGC Race.

Translator's note: The top two finishers in both the women's and men's races at the MGC Race will be named to the 2020 Olympic team. The 3rd through 5th-place finishers will provisionally be the third member on the team and the two alternates. If anyone runs faster than 2:05:50 or 2:22:23 at one of the six major Japanese marathons during the winter 2019-20 season, the fastest person to do so will pick up the third spot on the Olympic team. In that case the 3rd and 4th-place finishers at the MGC Race will be named alternates and the 5th-place finisher cut.

source article:
https://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20190703/ath19070318510001-n1.html
translated by Brett Larner

Comments

Andrew Armiger said…

Makes perfect sense. I haven't seen yet whether it will also be true for the USA OT marathon.

July 7, 2019 at 12:06 AM

Most-Read This Week

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