Olympic Team Members Ichiyama and Maeda Lead Osaka International Women's Marathon Field

On Dec. 22 the Osaka International Women's Marathon announced the elite field for its 40th running on Jan. 31, 2021 at a live streamed press conference. Like Fukuoka, Osaka is going ahead with a reduced domestic field of just 99 entrants and no international athletes. Tokyo Olympics marathon team members Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal), winner of this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon in a women-only national record of 2:20:29, and trials winner and 30 km national record holder Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) lead the entry list. With none of Osaka's usual international pacers, Osaka will use male pacers to try to set things up for a shot at Mizuki Noguchi's 2:19:12 national record.

The unsponsored Reia Iwade is the only other athlete who could realistically try to go with them, and for the rest of the field, which includes last year's 2nd-place Japanese woman Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita), there will be other men to pace at around 2:25. With ten women from 2:25 to 2:29 on the list and debuts from quality half marathoners Ayumi Hagiwara (Toyota Jidoshokki) and Moeno Shimizu (Panasonic) that should be a pretty solid group.

One other interesting name in the field is 62-year-old Mariko Yugeta, who in November last year became the first woman over age 60 to ever break 3 hours in the marathon with a 2:59:15 at the Shimonoseki Kaikyo Marathon. Yugeta qualified for Osaka earlier this month at the Osaka 30 km Road Race and will be the oldest woman ever to run it.

The Osaka International Women's Marathon will be broadcast live on Jan. 31. Check back closer to race day for more info on broadcast and streaming options.

40th Osaka International Women's Marathon

Elite Field Highlights

Osaka, 31 Jan. 2021

times listed are best within last three years except where noted

Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) - 2:20:29 (Nagoya 2020)

Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) - 2:23:48 (Osaka Int'l 2018)

Reia Iwade (Chiba T&F Assoc.) - 2:23:52 (Nagoya 2019)

Mizuki Tanimoto (Tenmaya) - 2:25:28 (Nagoya 2019)

Ayano Ikemitsu (Kagoshima Ginko) - 2:26:07 (Nagoya 2019)

Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) - 2:26:45 (Osaka Int'l 2020)

Madoka Nakano (Iwatani Sangyo) - 2:27:39 (Osaka Int'l 2019)

Yukari Abe (Shimamura) - 2:28:02 (Osaka Int'l 2019)

Mao Uesugi (Starts) - 2:28:02 (Nagoya 2019)

Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto) - 2:28:51 (Osaka Int'l 2020)

Shiho Takechi (Yamada Holdings) - 2:29:12 (Nagoya 2019)

Marie Imada (GRlab) - 2:29:35 (Saitama 2018)

Miharu Shimokado (Saitama T&F Assoc.) - 2:29:38 (Gold Coast 2018)

Hiroko Baino (Memolead) - 2:30:09 (Fukuoka 2019)

Anna Matsuda (Kyocera) - 2:30:35 (Nagoya 2020)

Mirai Waku (Univ. Ent.) - 2:33:03 (Asian Championships 2019)

Yuko Kawauchi (Nissei) - 2:33:57 (Nagoya 2019)

Yumiko Kinoshita (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 2:34:19 (Osaka Int'l 2019)

Tomomi Sawahata (Saitama T&F Assoc.) - 2:35:58 (Saitama 2018)

Kaoru Nagao (Sunfield AC) - 2:36:09 (Nagoya 2019)

Nao Isaka (Runs) - 2:36:48 (Katsuta 2019)

Hiroko Miyauchi (Hokuren) - 2:37:05 (Nagoya 2018)

Ruka Nakamura (Kojima Press) - 2:38:32 (Nagoya 2018)

Nozomi Kawato (JC Group) - 2:38:43 (Tokyo 2019)

Debut

Ayumi Hagiwara (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:10:16 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2019)

Moeno Shimizu (Panasonic) - 1:12:45 (Matsue Ladies Half 2018)

Rui Nishida (Sysmex) - 1:13:34 (Osaka Half 2018)

Yumika Nagahama (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 1:13:37 (Nat'l Univ. Half 2019)

Mitsuki Furuta (Hagoromo Kokusai Univ.) - 1:13:52 (Kansai Univ. Half 2020)

Mariko Ueno (Bukkyo Univ.) - 1:13:59 (Kansai Univ. Half 2020)

Tokyo Olympics Marathon Trials Winner Nakamura Enters Waseda Grad School

An Olympian in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics, Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) announced on his social media that he has entered Waseda University 's Graduate School of Sport Science with the start of the new academic year this week. A graduate of Mie's Ueno Kogyo H.S. , Nakamura went to Komazawa University before joining Fujitsu in 2015. His senior year of high school he was 3rd overall and 2nd Japanese in the 5000 m at the National High School Track and Field Championships, and in the fall the same year he ran what was at the time the 7th-fastest high school mark ever, 13:50.38. At Komazawa he scored four individual stage wins across the three big university ekidens. In 2019 he won the MGC Race, Japan's marathon trials for the Tokyo Olympics, where he was 62nd in 2:22:23. Nakamura indicated that he would be studying "top sports management" under professor Takeo Hirata . "I'll be balancing competition and academics," Nakamura wrote. "I'm r...

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

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Weekend Road and Track Roundup

A roundup of the main road and track action on the last weekend of Japan's 2024-25 academic and fiscal year: Doubling off a 2:07:06 PB at the Tokyo Marathon 4 weeks ago, Tatsuya Maruyama took bronze at the Asian Marathon Championships in Jiaxing, China in 2:11:56. Gold went to North Korea's Il Ryong Han in a breakaway 2:11:18, with silver medalist Tianyu Chen of China just ahead of Maruyama in 2:11:50. Japan's Shungo Yokota was a distant 4th in 2:14:00, with Japan-based Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir 6th in 2:15:14. Japanese women Kaede Kawamura and Natsumi Matsushita were 5th and 6th in 2:31:26 and 2:34:40, with medals going to China's Bing Wu , gold in 2:26:01, North Korea's Kwang-Ok Ri , silver right behind her in 2:26:07, and defending gold medalist Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh landing in bronze this time in 2:28:56, her third sub-2:29 performance so far in 2025. Back home, four men broke 2:20 at the Fukui Sakura Marathon . Ko Kobayashi from the Shi...

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