by Brett Larner
Marathons are often surprisingly unpredictable, but while there were a couple of big surprises at the 33rd edition of the Osaka International Women's Marathon, what was most surprising was how predictable three of the big results were.
One surprise was how aggressively Poland's Karolina Jarzynska took the race out. With a best of just 2:26:45, Jarzynska pushed the first half through in 1:11:30 and by 30 km had a lead of 12 seconds as she clocked a 1:42:22 split. Not too surprisingly, she tied up in the final 12 km and dropped to 3rd but was rewarded for taking her shot with a new PB of 2:26:31, just short of a new national record.
Two of the predictable elements came from the two women who ran her down. For the third time, Ukrainian national record holder and defending champion Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko rocked the Osaka course with the fastest second half and final 2.195 km in the field to take her second Osaka win, coming from 42 seconds behind at halfway to w…
Marathons are often surprisingly unpredictable, but while there were a couple of big surprises at the 33rd edition of the Osaka International Women's Marathon, what was most surprising was how predictable three of the big results were.
One surprise was how aggressively Poland's Karolina Jarzynska took the race out. With a best of just 2:26:45, Jarzynska pushed the first half through in 1:11:30 and by 30 km had a lead of 12 seconds as she clocked a 1:42:22 split. Not too surprisingly, she tied up in the final 12 km and dropped to 3rd but was rewarded for taking her shot with a new PB of 2:26:31, just short of a new national record.
Two of the predictable elements came from the two women who ran her down. For the third time, Ukrainian national record holder and defending champion Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko rocked the Osaka course with the fastest second half and final 2.195 km in the field to take her second Osaka win, coming from 42 seconds behind at halfway to w…