On Sept. 9 Ai Hosoda (29, Edion), who became the first Japanese athlete to qualify for the MGC Race Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials when she finished 6th at last month's Sydney Marathon, updated her Instagram story to thank everyone who has congratulated her. She posted pictures of cakes decorated with messages of congratulations, bouquets of flowers, and pictures that people had drawn. "I'm happy that everyone celebrated with me," she wrote. "Even the hotel staff gave me flowers. Thank you all very much."
Hosoda ran 2:23:27 for 6th at the Sydney Marathon. That cleared the JAAF's criteria for the Olympic marathon trials, sub-2:23:30, making Hosoda the first athlete female or male to score a place on the starting line of the trials race expected to be held the fall of 2027. Right after the race on Aug. 31 she posted, "I finally got to run in the country I always wanted to visit the most. Everywhere you look it's a beautiful country, and I was so happy to get to run Sydney the first year it became part of the World Marathon Majors. It was the hardest course ever and had absolutely zero flat parts. My muscles hurt even when I was running!"
Translator's note: Ranked 5th in the women's field on best time from 2023 to 2025, Hosoda finished 6th 5:05 behind winner Sifan Hassan. Ranked 19th on 2023-2025 time in the men's field, Masato Arao was also 6th in 2:07:42, 1:36 behind winner Hailemaryam Kiros, but did not earn a place at the Olympic trials due to not breaking the JAAF's 2:06:30 criterion.
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translated by Brett Larner
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