Skip to main content

First Japan Marathon Championship Series Winners Awarded $165,000


On Mar. 31 the JAAF recognized the winners of the new Japan Marathon Championship Series I at an award ceremony in Tokyo. Marathoners were scored on their best two performances from December, 2020 through March, 2022, with preference given to results from domestic races. The overall #1-ranked woman and man were named to Japan's team for this summer's Oregon World Championships, with anyone in the top 8 who hadn't otherwise already qualified for next year's MGC Paris Olympic marathon trials given a place on the trials starting line.

A total prize pool of ¥20,000,000, roughly $165,000 USD at the current dismal exchange rate, was divided between the top three women and men, with the top-ranked athletes receiving ¥6,000,000, about $50,000, 2nd-place receiving ¥3,000,000, around $25,000, and 3rd-place ¥1,000,000, or $8,000.


Women-only NR holder and Tokyo Olympics 8th-placer Mao Ichiyama took 1st in the women's standings, Mizuki Matsuda 2nd and Mao Uesugi 3rd. Both Ichiyama and Matsuda were named to the Oregon team, with Uesugi picking up a place on September's Hangzhou Asian Games team. NR holder Kengo Suzuki was the men's winner, Kyohei Hosoya taking 2nd and 2020 Olympic alternate Shohei Otsuka 3rd. Suzuki joins his partner Ichiyama and Matsuda on the Oregon team, Hosoya headed instead for Hangzhou alongside Uesugi.

"I'm really happy to be the first winner," said Ichiyama. "I'm doing more strength training than I have in the past in order to improve my form, and in Oregon I'll be aiming to place better than at the Olympics." "Together we want to get even better and deliver an incredible run as a couple," added Suzuki. "To be honest I don't really think in terms of time goals and think it's more important to try to compete, but as a whole I think Japanese men should be targeting 2:03. I get injured a lot, and that's something I need to work on, but I won't be changing my approach for Worlds except to deal with heat."

Despite losing to Ichiyama by only 6 points Matsuda was all smiles, saying, "My goal was to make the World Championships team to get a chance to race against the best, and that's what I've done." Hosoya commented, "I'm disappointed that I wasn't picked for the Worlds team, but my road to the Olympics runs through the Asian Games and I'll be going for the win there." Otsuka, the only JMC podium placer not named to a national team, said, "I need to improve both my speed and stamina."

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...
1 comment
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview

The Nagoya Women's Marathon , the world's largest women-only marathon and the last race in the selection cycle for September's Tokyo World Championships, happens Sunday. Weather conditions are looking better than what they had in Tokyo and Osaka the last two weekends, 7˚ at the start and rising to 12˚ with sunny skies. The wind looks a bit stronger than ideal, but it could be worse. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. Sunday local time, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch the TVer streaming . One option for  a leaderboard is here , and another here . We'll have some coverage on @JRNLive . Just like last time around there are three Ethiopian and Kenyan-born athletes at the top list, this time it being sub-2:20 women Sheila Chepkirui , winner in NYC last year, and Ruti Aga , winner in Xiamen in January, and last year's Nagoya runner-up Eunice Chebichii Chumba . But last year Yuka Ando still pulled off the win, so there's a c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...
1 comment
Read more