Skip to main content

Kiyoko Shimahara

Born Dec. 22, 1976 in Yamaguchi. Graduated from Kokushikan University and joined the Shiseido corporate team. Left Shiseido in 2007 with head coach Manabu Kawagoe and three teammates to form the independent Second Wind AC. Hot-weather specialist.

After a good marathon debut off the beaten path at the 2003 Katsuta Marathon, Shimahara had a remarkably consistent run of 2:26 performances from 2004 to 2006. The streak ended with her silver medal performance at the hot 2006 Asian Games, and for the next three years she was more consistently in the 2:30-2:31 range. In August, 2009 Shimahara ran a PB of 2:25:10 at the Hokkaido Marathon, her first sub-2:30 in three years, a new course record, and faster than the winning time at the previous week's World Championships in tougher conditions. In just over 100 days following Hokkaido Shimahara went on to break 2:30 twice more, both in warm weather.

In part one of her interview with JRN Shimahara talked about that fall season, what went right, and the consistent years of training that got her there. In part two she discussed the challenges facing Japan's young women distance runners and what these problems mean for the future.

Personal Bests

5000 m: 15:54.09 (2003) 10000 m: 32:54.03 (2004) half-marathon: 1:10:16 (2006) marathon: 2:25:10 (2009)

Marathon History

2016 Himeji Castle Marathon: 3:03:51, 8th
2015 Osaka International Women's Marathon: DNF
2014 Yokohama International Women's Marathon: 2:51:18, 17th
2014 Nagano Marathon: 2:42:50, 7th
2014 Wan Jin Shi Marathon: 2:46:59, 8th
2013 Osaka Marathon: 2:44:37, 3rd
2012 Osaka International Women's Marathon: 2:29:51, 4th
2011 Osaka Marathon: 2:33:36, 2nd
2011 Hokkaido Marathon: 2:34:26, 2nd
2011 Tokyo Marathon: 2:42:19, 15th
2010 Guangzhou Asian Games Marathon: 2:32:11, 5th
2010 Nagano Marathon: 2:34:46, 4th
2009 Honolulu Marathon: 2:29:53, 2nd
2009 Yokohama International Women's Marathon: 2:28:51, 1st
2009 Hokkaido Marathon: 2:25:10, 1st - CR, PB
2009 Tokyo Marathon: 2:31:57, 6th
2008 Honolulu Marathon: 2:32:36, 1st
2008 Chicago Marathon: 2:30:19, 3rd
2008 Nagoya International Women's Marathon: 2:30:30, 11th
2007 Shanghai Marathon: 2:35:41, 2nd
2007 Osaka World Championships Marathon: 2:31:40, 6th
2007 London Marathon: DNF
2006 Doha Asian Games Marathon: 2:30:34, 2nd
2006 Boston Marathon: 2:26:52, 5th
2006 Osaka International Women's Marathon: 2:26:47, 3rd
2005 Hokkaido Marathon: 2:26:14, 2nd
2004 Tokyo International Women's Marathon: 2:26:43, 2nd
2003 Tokyo International Women's Marathon: 2:31:10, 3rd
2003 Katsuta Marathon: 2:28:17, 1st - CR, debut

Other Major Results

2009 Osaka Half Marathon: 1st
2000 Shanghai International Half Marathon: 1st

Hobbies

shopping

Interests

nature

© 2010 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

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

10000 m National Championships Preview

  Less than five months since the 2023 10000 m National Championships went down at the 2021 Olympic stadium in Tokyo, the 2024 edition happens Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium, with NHK broadcasting it live starting at 19:25 local time. Doubling up on Nationals like this lets Japanese athletes double dip on placing points to try to get into the Paris Olympics on rankings. But between the number of people who've hit the 30:40.00 women's standard and 27:00.00 men's standard and the lopsided eight spots given away to top placers at World XC, there are only four women's spots and three men's available via rankings. Of those, three of the four women's spots and two of the three men's spots are currently occupied by top placers at December's 2023 Nationals, Ririka Hironaka , Haruka Kokai and Rino Goshima for women and Ren Tazawa and Tomoki Ota for men. The 2023 Nationals did get close to the standards, with Hironaka leading the top four women under

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