by Brett Larner
An early-season typhoon brought cold, windy, rainy conditions to this year`s Osaka Grand Prix meet, causing weak results among competitors in all events.
In the most anticipated event of the meet, women`s 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi easily defeated her rivals to win but missed her goal of an Olympic qualifying time. Kobayashi started well, leading the chase back a few meters behind leaders Sonja Roman of Slovakia and Lisa Corrigan of Australia. The two leaders hit 400 m in 64', with Kobayashi tying her national record split of 65' for the first lap. She spent the 2nd lap bridging the gap to the leaders, still on national record pace at 800 m with a 69' second lap.
In the 3rd lap Kobayashi made a move to take the lead but abruptly pulled back into the 1st lane to sit behind Roman and Corrigan, missing her chance to go after her goal time. The three runners hit 1100 m in 3:06, making even an Olympic B-standard 4:08 highly unlikely, then c…
An early-season typhoon brought cold, windy, rainy conditions to this year`s Osaka Grand Prix meet, causing weak results among competitors in all events.
In the most anticipated event of the meet, women`s 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi easily defeated her rivals to win but missed her goal of an Olympic qualifying time. Kobayashi started well, leading the chase back a few meters behind leaders Sonja Roman of Slovakia and Lisa Corrigan of Australia. The two leaders hit 400 m in 64', with Kobayashi tying her national record split of 65' for the first lap. She spent the 2nd lap bridging the gap to the leaders, still on national record pace at 800 m with a 69' second lap.
In the 3rd lap Kobayashi made a move to take the lead but abruptly pulled back into the 1st lane to sit behind Roman and Corrigan, missing her chance to go after her goal time. The three runners hit 1100 m in 3:06, making even an Olympic B-standard 4:08 highly unlikely, then c…