by Brett Larner
Of all the Japanese men's and women's selection races for the Beijing Olympics marathon teams, none has been as eagerly anticipated as the final event, this Sunday's Nagoya International Women's Marathon. Of the three slots on the women's team, one was taken by Reiko Tosa via her bronze medal performance at last summer's World Championships in Osaka. Another was all but settled in November with defending Olympic gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi's course record win at the Tokyo International Women's Marathon. Barring at least two more truly spectacular performances, the final slot would be determined between the top Japanese finishers in January's Osaka International Women's Marathon and Nagoya. Tomo Morimoto was the top Japanese in Osaka, finishing 2nd overall. A good result, but her time of 2:25:34, unremarkable among Japanese women, leaves a very strong chance for one of the Nagoya runners to take the spot on the Olympic team away. Among all the contenders for this spot, including four past Nagoya winners and six runners with PBs faster than Morimoto's time, none faces as much domestic or international attention as Naoko Takahashi.
Naoko Takahashi
age: 35; PB: 2:19:46, Berlin '01 (WR); gold medal, Sydney Olympics '00
Takahashi, or Q-chan as she is known in the Japanese media, is the single most loved and respected figure in Japanese marathoning. Her win in the Sydney Olympics was Japan's first Olympic marathon gold medal, she was the first woman in the world to break 2:20, and she remains the Olympic record holder and a symbol of perseverence. After her string of successes in the early 2000's she broke off her working relationship with coach Yoshio Koide, then failed to make the 2004 Athens Olympics. A win at the 2005 Tokyo International Women's Marathon created significant buzz about a comeback, but Takahashi's dismal run in cold, rainy conditions at Tokyo the next year caused many to write her off. She has not raced a marathon since then, but her training for Nagoya, which she has won twice, has been epic. The Japanese public would dearly love to see Q-chan make the team and if she is anywhere close to the shape she should be in after several months of altititude training then 2:25 is certainly within her capability. The only question, again assuming her fitness, is whether one of her competitors will outrun her. While she will benefit from the withdrawal of defending champion Yasuko Hashimoto due to a knee injury, Takahashi's chances took a body blow with the switch from Osaka to Nagoya of Yumiko Hara and Yuri Kano.
Yumiko Hara
age: 26; PB: 2:23:48, Osaka '07 (winner); 2005 and 2007 World Championships entrant
Hara was the defending champion in Osaka but withdrew at the last moment with stomach troubles. She won Nagoya in 2005 in her debut marathon, qualifying for the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki. Her bizarre, robotic personality gives her a somewhat frightening focus and determination, but at the same time seems to force her into a singleminded race strategy in all situations: going hard from the start. In Helsinki, Hara's second marathon, she tried to run down world record holder and eventual winner Paula Radcliffe in the early stages of the race. She came back from injury to win Osaka last year by pushing the pace, and at last summer's World Championships she again tried to frontrun the race right from the start, eventually falling apart in the heat. Her coach has said that he expects the veteran runners to be strong in the later stages of the race and as a result Hara's strategy will be once again to go out hard and make the race.
Yuri Kano
age: 29; PB: 2:24:43, Osaka '07; winner, Hokkaido '07
Kano debuted at last year's Osaka, running an impressive performance to finish 3rd, just a few seconds from making the 2007 World Championships team. She went on to run the Hokkaido Marathon instead, winning in heat and humidity similar to that at the World Champs. She was aiming for a significant PB at Osaka in January but was forced to withdraw after only 17 km with severe foot pain. It is questionable whether she has recovered fully from this injury but if so must be considered one of the major contenders.
Other Domestic Contenders
The four remaining big names among the domestic field are past Nagoya winners Harumi Hiroyama and Takami Ominami, along with one of Japan's all-time fastest women, Naoko Sakamoto and proven heat running specialist Kiyoko Shimahara. Hiroyama, a true veteran at age 39, ran her best time of 2:22:56 in 2000, but her winning time of 2:23:26 at the 2006 Nagoya was still highly competitive. She suffered from remaining with Team Shiseido when coach Manabu Kawagoe left to form Second Wind AC and was not at peak fitness through the winter, but says she is ready and will concentrate on running her own race. Ominami set her PB of 2:23:43 in winning Rotterdam '02 and says that the balance of her mind and body is now at its best point in her long career. Sakamoto's best time, 2:21:51, also came some years ago, in her case at Osaka '03. She has been injured almost continuously since then but reports being glad to be in one piece again in time for the Olympic selection races. Shimahara does not have the fast times of the other contenders, her PB being only 2:26:14, but that time was run at the late-summer Hokkaido Marathon and she has great experience in hot international events. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games, a performance which led to her being selected for the 2007 World Championships where she beat many faster competitors to finish 6th. She will be hard-pressed to beat some of the other runners in the cooler March temperatures at Nagoya, but her stated goal is to win with a PB.
Debutantes
One of the most impressive aspects of Japanese distance running is its depth, a trait which often leads to runners making spectacular debuts when they step up from the half marathon to the full. Arata Fujiwara did just this in the Tokyo Marathon men's selection race last month, and several runners in the Nagoya field have the potential to do likewise. Akane Taira is the most likely candidate thanks to her sub-70 half marathon PB, but other contenders include Yurika Nakamura and Yoshimi Ozaki along with a half-dozen more.
Foreign Competitors
Five invited elites from abroad will also be running Nagoya. Of these, only Kenya's Joice Kirui is likely to have a chance of being up front. Kirui holds a PB of 2:26:52, set last year in winning the Kitale marathon. Lioudmila Kortchaguina, a former Russian now running for Canada, will also be trying to make her first Olympic team with her new home country.
The Race
Hara is likely to be the one setting the pace. Look for her to go out hard, followed closely by Takahashi, Sakamoto and possibly Ominami and Kirui. If Kano is fit she should also be in the lead pack, but Hiroyama is likely to hold back and in the later stages try to pick up the victims of a fast early pace. The race will probably come down to whether Hara can keep her herself together and whether Takahashi can conjure up the Q-chan of old this one more time. Make that two more times if she is successful. Already the most respected runner in all of Japanese marathoning, qualifying for Beijing would make Takahashi a living legend.
A complete listing of the Nagoya field, including JRN's Mika Tokairin, is available here.
(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Of all the Japanese men's and women's selection races for the Beijing Olympics marathon teams, none has been as eagerly anticipated as the final event, this Sunday's Nagoya International Women's Marathon. Of the three slots on the women's team, one was taken by Reiko Tosa via her bronze medal performance at last summer's World Championships in Osaka. Another was all but settled in November with defending Olympic gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi's course record win at the Tokyo International Women's Marathon. Barring at least two more truly spectacular performances, the final slot would be determined between the top Japanese finishers in January's Osaka International Women's Marathon and Nagoya. Tomo Morimoto was the top Japanese in Osaka, finishing 2nd overall. A good result, but her time of 2:25:34, unremarkable among Japanese women, leaves a very strong chance for one of the Nagoya runners to take the spot on the Olympic team away. Among all the contenders for this spot, including four past Nagoya winners and six runners with PBs faster than Morimoto's time, none faces as much domestic or international attention as Naoko Takahashi.
Naoko Takahashi
age: 35; PB: 2:19:46, Berlin '01 (WR); gold medal, Sydney Olympics '00
Takahashi, or Q-chan as she is known in the Japanese media, is the single most loved and respected figure in Japanese marathoning. Her win in the Sydney Olympics was Japan's first Olympic marathon gold medal, she was the first woman in the world to break 2:20, and she remains the Olympic record holder and a symbol of perseverence. After her string of successes in the early 2000's she broke off her working relationship with coach Yoshio Koide, then failed to make the 2004 Athens Olympics. A win at the 2005 Tokyo International Women's Marathon created significant buzz about a comeback, but Takahashi's dismal run in cold, rainy conditions at Tokyo the next year caused many to write her off. She has not raced a marathon since then, but her training for Nagoya, which she has won twice, has been epic. The Japanese public would dearly love to see Q-chan make the team and if she is anywhere close to the shape she should be in after several months of altititude training then 2:25 is certainly within her capability. The only question, again assuming her fitness, is whether one of her competitors will outrun her. While she will benefit from the withdrawal of defending champion Yasuko Hashimoto due to a knee injury, Takahashi's chances took a body blow with the switch from Osaka to Nagoya of Yumiko Hara and Yuri Kano.
Yumiko Hara
age: 26; PB: 2:23:48, Osaka '07 (winner); 2005 and 2007 World Championships entrant
Hara was the defending champion in Osaka but withdrew at the last moment with stomach troubles. She won Nagoya in 2005 in her debut marathon, qualifying for the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki. Her bizarre, robotic personality gives her a somewhat frightening focus and determination, but at the same time seems to force her into a singleminded race strategy in all situations: going hard from the start. In Helsinki, Hara's second marathon, she tried to run down world record holder and eventual winner Paula Radcliffe in the early stages of the race. She came back from injury to win Osaka last year by pushing the pace, and at last summer's World Championships she again tried to frontrun the race right from the start, eventually falling apart in the heat. Her coach has said that he expects the veteran runners to be strong in the later stages of the race and as a result Hara's strategy will be once again to go out hard and make the race.
Yuri Kano
age: 29; PB: 2:24:43, Osaka '07; winner, Hokkaido '07
Kano debuted at last year's Osaka, running an impressive performance to finish 3rd, just a few seconds from making the 2007 World Championships team. She went on to run the Hokkaido Marathon instead, winning in heat and humidity similar to that at the World Champs. She was aiming for a significant PB at Osaka in January but was forced to withdraw after only 17 km with severe foot pain. It is questionable whether she has recovered fully from this injury but if so must be considered one of the major contenders.
Other Domestic Contenders
The four remaining big names among the domestic field are past Nagoya winners Harumi Hiroyama and Takami Ominami, along with one of Japan's all-time fastest women, Naoko Sakamoto and proven heat running specialist Kiyoko Shimahara. Hiroyama, a true veteran at age 39, ran her best time of 2:22:56 in 2000, but her winning time of 2:23:26 at the 2006 Nagoya was still highly competitive. She suffered from remaining with Team Shiseido when coach Manabu Kawagoe left to form Second Wind AC and was not at peak fitness through the winter, but says she is ready and will concentrate on running her own race. Ominami set her PB of 2:23:43 in winning Rotterdam '02 and says that the balance of her mind and body is now at its best point in her long career. Sakamoto's best time, 2:21:51, also came some years ago, in her case at Osaka '03. She has been injured almost continuously since then but reports being glad to be in one piece again in time for the Olympic selection races. Shimahara does not have the fast times of the other contenders, her PB being only 2:26:14, but that time was run at the late-summer Hokkaido Marathon and she has great experience in hot international events. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games, a performance which led to her being selected for the 2007 World Championships where she beat many faster competitors to finish 6th. She will be hard-pressed to beat some of the other runners in the cooler March temperatures at Nagoya, but her stated goal is to win with a PB.
Debutantes
One of the most impressive aspects of Japanese distance running is its depth, a trait which often leads to runners making spectacular debuts when they step up from the half marathon to the full. Arata Fujiwara did just this in the Tokyo Marathon men's selection race last month, and several runners in the Nagoya field have the potential to do likewise. Akane Taira is the most likely candidate thanks to her sub-70 half marathon PB, but other contenders include Yurika Nakamura and Yoshimi Ozaki along with a half-dozen more.
Foreign Competitors
Five invited elites from abroad will also be running Nagoya. Of these, only Kenya's Joice Kirui is likely to have a chance of being up front. Kirui holds a PB of 2:26:52, set last year in winning the Kitale marathon. Lioudmila Kortchaguina, a former Russian now running for Canada, will also be trying to make her first Olympic team with her new home country.
The Race
Hara is likely to be the one setting the pace. Look for her to go out hard, followed closely by Takahashi, Sakamoto and possibly Ominami and Kirui. If Kano is fit she should also be in the lead pack, but Hiroyama is likely to hold back and in the later stages try to pick up the victims of a fast early pace. The race will probably come down to whether Hara can keep her herself together and whether Takahashi can conjure up the Q-chan of old this one more time. Make that two more times if she is successful. Already the most respected runner in all of Japanese marathoning, qualifying for Beijing would make Takahashi a living legend.
A complete listing of the Nagoya field, including JRN's Mika Tokairin, is available here.
(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
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