Skip to main content

Japan Announces Beijing World Championships Marathon Teams

by Brett Larner

The JAAF announced its men's and women's Beijing World Championships marathon teams, staying true to its word that members of its hand-picked National Team oversight program would receive priority over non-members who performed better in the official selection races.  Left off the team are Hiroaki Sano (Team Honda) with a 2:09:12 PB for 9th in Tokyo last month, and Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei), winner of November's Yokohama Women's Marathon in 2:26:57.  Those selected for the team:

Women

Sairi Maeda (Team Daihatsu) - age 23
PB/SB: 2:22:48 (Nagoya 2015)

Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya) - age 27
PB: 2:23:23 (Osaka Int'l 2012)   SB: 2:26:39 (Osaka Int'l 2015)

Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - age 30
PB/SB: 2:24:42 (Nagoya 2015)

Men

Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) - age 30
PB/SB: 2:07:39 (Tokyo 2015)

Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko) - age 33
PB: 2:08:00 (Tokyo 2013)   SB: 2:11:46 (Biwako 2015)

Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda) - age 34
PB: 2:08:12 (Biwako 2003)   SB: 2:09:06 (Fukuoka 2014)

(c) 2015 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

TokyoRacer said…
That's pretty stupid.
March 12, 2015 at 10:20 PM
Anonymous said…
I would be interested to know your thoughts on the selection of Shigetomo over Tanaka, and the so-called "battle" between JAAF and the commentator Masuda.

As always, thanks for all of your informative posts!
March 12, 2015 at 10:45 PM
Brett Larner said…
The time difference was negligible. Tanaka won, while Shigetomo went out over her head and slowed more than 4 minutes off the winner in the second half. Tanaka is coached by one of the only female coaches in Japan, while Shigetomo's head coach is one of the Federation executives in charge of the national marathoning program. Res ipsa loquitur.
March 14, 2015 at 10:01 AM
Anonymous said…
Thank you!
Seems quite dodgy to me.
March 14, 2015 at 10:38 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...
3 comments
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...
Post a Comment
Read more

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more