Beating the odds as race after race cancels amid rising COVID numbers, the Osaka International Women's Marathon went ahead as planned Sunday in great conditions along with its partner Osaka Half Marathon. Osaka local and favorite Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) proved unstoppable again, running with three male pacers on mid-2:19 pace most of the way, dropping lone competitor Mao Uesugi (Starts) with a surge at 25 km, fading over the final 10 km but hanging on to break the course record with a PB 2:20:52 that moved her up to all-time Japanese #5.
In six marathon starts to date Matsuda has won Osaka three times, Nagoya once, and placed 5th in Berlin, all between 2:20:52 and 2:22:44. Not many people have that kind of record of success, anywhere. With this performance she's all but a lock to be named to the Oregon World Championships team, where she'll get a chance to show what she can do against real international competition. But having been in the same position for the Tokyo Olympics before getting bumped off the team by rival Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) in Nagoya, you can be sure Matsuda knows the score. Her tears and very clipped "I didn't meet my goals here" reply to an interview question right after the finish showed she isn't getting too comfortable yet.
After getting dropped at 25 km Uesugi struggled to hold the same pace on her own as all three pacers went with Matsuda and the B-group runners, also with male pacers, came up from behind. Having started with a PB of 2:24:52 Uesugi stayed on sub-2:20 pace until almost 30 km before starting to slow, but she hung on well enough to keep in 2nd place in a big PB of 2:22:29, the most impressive run of the day. "I'm really, really happy!" she smiled through tears post-race.
Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) was expected to be the main challenger to Matsuda, starting the race in the B-group on 2:22 pace and saying that she planned to pick it up after 30 km. But that never materialized, as she dropped off shortly after 30 km to leave Tenmaya teammates Natsumi Matsushita and Mizuki Tanimoto in 3rd and 4th in PBs of 2:23:05 and 2:23:11, and Yukari Abe (Shimamura) in 5th, also in a PB of 2:24:02. Sato was the only runner in the top 7 not to run a PB, taking 6th in 2:24:47, but in clearing 2:27 she met the criteria for 2024 Olympic marathon trials qualification along with the five women ahead of her. Abe had said pre-race that if she didn't break 2:24 she'd retire, but having qualified for the Olympic trials it's likely she'll be sticking around at least another year and a half.
Six trials qualifiers exactly met JAAF marathon director Toshihiko Seko's pre-race prediction and made for one of the best performances at depth in Japanese women's history. Japan has only had four women under 2:24 in an entire year four times before, twice in the glory days of 2002 and 2003 and twice in the modern shoe era in 2018 and 2020. Here they did it in one race. The very front end might be further from the world's best than ever before, but in terms of depth at quality this was about as good as it's ever been. And these days it's worth picking up on the positive whenever you can. If the season's three remaining races, the Feb. 27 Osaka Marathon, Mar. 6 Tokyo Marathon and Mar. 13 Nagoya Women's Marathon, end up happening, expect to see even more good news.
© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
41st Osaka International Women's Marathon
Osaka, 30 Jan. 2022
1. Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) - 2:20:52 - PB, CR
2. Mao Uesugi (Starts) - 2:22:29 - PB
3. Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 2:23:05 - PB
4. Mizuki Tanimoto (Tenmaya) - 2:23:11 - PB
5. Yukari Abe (Shimamura) - 2:24:02 - PB
6. Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:24:47
7. Rie Kawauchi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:25:35 - PB
8. Reia Iwade (Adidas) - 2:27:14
9. Misaki Kato (Kyudenko) - 2:28:27
10. Ayano Ikemitsu (Kagoshima Ginko) - 2:28:53
11. Hanae Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) - 2:30:45
12. Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) - 2:30:49
13. Michi Numata (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 2:31:52
14. Shiho Kaneshige (GRLab Kanto) - 2:32:54
15. Ayumi Hagiwara (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 2:34:14
16. Tomomi Sawahata (Sawahatters) - 2:36:45 - PB
17. Miyu Miyanaga (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 2:38:28 - debut
18. Sayo Nomura (Uniqlo) - 2:38:55
19. Ayano Ikeuchi (Denso) - 2:39:36
20. Tomoko Horioka (SWAC) - 2:41:32
21. Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:42:08
22. Shinobu Ayabe (Dream AC) - 2:42:39
23. Mai Fujisawa (Sapporo Excel AC) - 2:43:05
24. Miho Nakata (Chiba T&F Assoc.) - 2:43:38 - debut
25. Nagisa Goda (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 2:44:30
Comments
I think she mentionned an injury during training but I'm not comfortable enough in my japanese skill to know if she was in that state due to injury, dissapointment, a mix of both or something else entirely
Re: Sato -- Based on a post she made to her Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/CZZCkanvumV/) it sounds like she picked up an injury of some sort about 2 weeks before the race. I hope she can recover well from it and move onto the next one.
https://note.com/sekisuif/n/n9ac321761547
With elite athletes and marathon runners especially, I believe more than half the battle is turning up to the start line relatively injury free. That's why huge kudos to Mizuki Matsuda for her consistent excellent performances. It's a shame suffered her injury when she did as I think her preparation was very good.