Skip to main content

Yukiko Akaba Announces Retirement Plans

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2013/11/28/kiji/K20131128007099510.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Nov. 28 marathoner Yukiko Akaba (34, Team Hokuren) announced on her blog that she plans to retire following the 33rd edition of the Osaka International Women's Marathon on Jan. 26.  That deadline for retirement was set more than a year ago.  "Retiring now doesn't mean I'm just quitting," she said.  "I can't realistically expect to make any more Olympic teams.  If I keep going then eventually I'll just be puttering along without any clear goals.  Not many people will like this decision, but it is a happy occasion and I'm thankful from the heart for all the support I've received.  I will keep giving it my all until Osaka and bring my best performances to every race I have left before that."

Akaba is a graduate of Josai University.  She won the 2013 National Corporate Half Marathon in 1:08:59 and was 3rd at this year's London Marathon in 2:24:43 but was not named to the Moscow World Championships team.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

On the Loss of the ARRS Database

At some point in the last few months I discovered that both versions of the ARRS database, the static one and the searchable version , are gone. Last week David Monti posted a link to the ARRS history of an event he covered in Race Results Weekly, I guess copying and pasting a link from last year without looking at it, and that reminded me to write something about the loss of the database. The Association of Road Racing Statisticians was basically a one-man show operated from the remote Northern California shores by Ken Young . When the site existed its intro read: The Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyses and publishes results and statistics regarding elite distance running at distances 3000m and longer...The data of ARRS is stored in the ARRS database, which has more than 1.3 million performances from more than 240,000 races by more than 95,000 elite and sub-elite distance runners worldwide...This website ...
1 comment
Read more

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...
Post a Comment
Read more