Skip to main content

Dusseldorf Marathon Pre-Race Press Conference and Streaming Info

Yuki Kawauchi and 2006 European 10000 m champion Jan Fitschen at the Dusseldorf Marathon press conference, Apr. 27.

by Brett Larner

Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) is set to make his European debut this Sunday at the 10th Metro Group Dusseldorf Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label event.  Kawauchi contacted JRN in late December last year to ask for assistance in finding a late-April race in Europe to do as a practice run for the London Olympics.  Following his failed bid to make the Japanese team at February's Tokyo Marathon he elected to commit himself to running Dusseldorf as a serious race.  Joining him is the best field assembled yet in Dusseldorf's short history, with one 2:06 runner and five 2:08 men plus defending champion Nahashon Kimaiyo (Kenya), two debutants with sub-62 half marathon credentials and a sizeable second pack of runners looking to break their home countries' Olympic qualifying standards.  Weather permitting, the out-of-nowhere 2:08:32 course record set by Iaroslav Musinschi (Moldova) in 2010 looks sure to fall.

On April 27 he appeared alongside German favorite Jan Fitscher and others to talk about his plans for the race.  "At the minimum," he told the media, "I want to break 2:10, but along with that I want to show that even though Kenyans and Ethiopians are superb athletes, Japanese runners can compete with them.  In Tokyo we went through halfway in 1:03:13, so if the first half here is 1:03:30 I don't think it'll be too fast, and if it's 1:04 I'll be very confident."  If he achieves both his time goal and the win Kawauchi will become only the second Japanese man to win a European marathon sub-2:10, 25 years after 1991 World Championships gold medalist Hiromi Taniguchi's 2:09:50 win at the 1987 London Marathon.  Kawauchi's training partner Saeki Makino (Kawaguchi T&F Assoc.) will likewise be making his European debut looking for a sub-2:15 PB clocking.

The Dusseldorf Marathon will be streamed live here beginning at 9 a.m. local time on Sunday the 29th.  Check back for pictures and further coverage of the race weekend.

10th Metro Group Dusseldorf Marathon
Dusseldorf, 4/29/12

Men
1. Nahashon Kimaiyo (Kenya) - 2:10:36 (2011 Dusseldorf winner)
2. Seboka Tola (Ethiopia) - 2:06:17
4. Joseph Ngeny (Kenya) - 2:08:10
5. Evans Ruto (Kenya) - 2:08:36
6. Duncan Koech (Kenya) - 2:08:38
7. Yuki Kawauchi (Japan) - 2:08:37
8. Abraham Chelanga (Kenya) - 2:08:43
11. Josphat Ngetich (Kenya) - 2:13:44
15. Saeki Makino (Japan) - 1:04:35 (half)
17. John Ewoi (Kenya) - 2:14:56
20. Jan Fitschen (Germany) - 2:15:40
22. Marcin Chabowski (Poland) - 2:14:32
23. Jose Moreira (Portugal) - 2:13:37
32. Stanley Salil (Kenya) - debut - 1:01:35 (half)
33. Tewelde Estifanos (Eritrea) - debut - 1:01:39 (half)

text and photo (c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...
1 comment
Read more

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...
1 comment
Read more

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more