Skip to main content

JAAF Announces Marathon Teams for 2023 World Championships and Asian Games

The JAAF has announced the men's and women's marathon teams for this year's Budapest World Championships and Hangzhou Asian Games. Japan's MGC Race Paris Olympics marathon trials are scheduled for Oct. 15. With Budapest happening Aug. 19-27 everyone on the Budapest team will have to either double high-level marathon performances seven weeks apart or try to steal the 3rd spot on the Paris team by running a fast time at one of the major winter 2023-24 domestic marathons. With Hangzhou happening Sept. 23 to Oct. 5 it's not likely anyone named to that team will try to double, meaning either a shot at something ambitious next winter or giving Paris a miss.

Between the two teams, the two fastest Japanese men at both the Osaka Marathon and Tokyo Marathon this year have been chosen. Heading to Budapest are Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko), 2:05:51 for 7th in Tokyo, Kenya Sonota (JR Higashi Nihon), 2:05:59 for 8th in Tokyo, and Kazuya Nishiyama (Toyota), 2:06:45 for 6th in Osaka. 

Hangzhou-bound are Yohei Ikeda (Kao), 2:06:53 for 7th in Osaka, and Toshiki Sadakata (Mitsubishi Juko), 2:07:24 for 10th in Osaka. Sadakata was the 4th Japanese man in Osaka, meaning the 3rd men there, Shohei Otsuka (Kyudenko), 8th in 2:06:57, and in Tokyo, Suguru Osako (GMO), 9th in 2:06:13, both passed on the chance to run in Hangzhou.

On the women's side, Japan's top finisher at last summer's Oregon World Championships Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) leads the Budapest team with a 2:21:44 for 6th and top Japanese in Tokyo. Rika Kaseda (Daihatsu) and Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) were chosen off strong performances at last year's Berlin Marathon, where Kaseda was the top Japanese woman at 7th overall in 2:21:55 and Sato 3rd Japanese in 2:22:13 for 9th. 

Things go further down the list for the women's team in Hangzhou. Hikari Onishi (Japan Post) was named off a 2:25:54 for 19th and 5th Japanese woman in Berlin, with Mirai Waku (Universal Entertainment) picking up the second spot thanks to a 2:25:58 for 7th overall and 5th Japanese at the Nagoya Women's Marathon earlier this month.

© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
I'm surprised Mizuki Matsuda is running here as I fully expected her to put all her focus on making the Olympic Team after she missed out last time. She ran a good solid race in the World Championships last year so I'm genuinely surprised at this decision.

Regarding Sayaka Sato I think it is a wonderful opportunity for her and an honor to finally make the national team so I can understand her decision to run.

I'm a little surprised with Rika Kaseda running too because I think she is on a definite performance improvement trajectory recently and has a realistically good chance of running a great race at MGC and qualifying for the Olympics. I'm not sure how she will do given the limited recovery after this race and then build up to the MGC race.

Mao Uesugi not competing certainly gives her a better chance of doing well in the MGC race as she probably discovered from her own back to back marathon experiment experience from earlier this year.

One thing for sure is the MGC race is going to be very closely contested and you will need to be on top of your game to come out in the top 2-3.
March 29, 2023 at 8:02 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chien Breaks TPE NR, Iwata Betters ID-Class WR - Weekend Track Roundup

The last weekend of the academic and fiscal year saw at least 5 meets with good results domestically and abroad. Kicking things off Friday was the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, where Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa took 1st and 3rd in the men's high jump, both of them only clearing 2.18 m along with 2nd-placer Roman Anastasios . 12 other Japanese athletes were in action on the second day of the meet on Saturday, where 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura ran 3:42.84 for 6th in the men's 1500 m. Nagiya Mori had a better one in the men's 3000 m with a 7:45.40 for 4th. Both Yota Mashiko and Rui Suzuki cleared 8:00 too, Mashiko's 7:53.84 the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Abigail Fuka Ido and Nagisa Takahashi both placed 3rd in their events, Ido going 23.85 (-0.9) in the women's 200 m and Takahashi clearing 1.82 m in the women's high jump. 8 Japanese men were at The TEN in California to run 10000 m. In the B-heat won by Edward Marks in ...
2 comments
Read more

JAAF Announces World Road Running Championships Half Marathon Team

The JAAF announced the men's and women's half marathon teams today for this fall's World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen: Women Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon) - 1:09:14 (1st, 2026 Osaka Half) Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:09:20 (1st, 2026 Nat'l Corp. Half) Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 1:09:22 (2nd, 2026 Osaka Half) Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) - 1:09:23 (3rd, 2026 Osaka Half) Men Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 1:00:22 (4th, 2026 Marugame Half) Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:26 (5th, 2026 Marugame Half) Neo Namiki (Subaru) - 1:00:29 (6th, 2026 Marugame Half) Daisuke Sato (Chuo Univ.) - 1:00:40 (7th, 2026 Marugame Half) Mile and 5 km teams, if any, will be decided after June's National Track and Field Championships. © 2026 Brett Larner , all rights reserved
Post a Comment
Read more

Updates on Transfers

April 1 is the start of Japan's new academic and fiscal year, and there's always a wave of transfer announcements to go with it. Some notable ones yesterday: 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo skipped university to go straight to 2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku after her graduation from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. Multiple NR holder Nozomi Tanaka rejoined the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team after having left it to pursue a solo pro career as a New Balance athlete. Already on the team for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games in the 10000 m, Ririka Hironaka announced a switch from her longtime home at Japan Post to the Uniqlo women's team. Collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda joined the 2026 national champion GMO corporate team after graduating from 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University last week. Hakone Ekdien First Stage CR holder Rui Aoki joins the Sumitomo Denko corporate team after running his final race for 2025 Izumo Ekiden w...
Post a Comment
Read more