Japanese Women Win Team Bronze at Cardiff World Half Marathon Championships

by Brett Larner

Led by a 10th-place overall finish by Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) with support from top-20 placings by Miho Shimizu (Team Hokuren) and Mizuki Matsuda (Team Daihatsu), the Japanese women narrowly held off Australia to score the team bronze medal at the 2016 World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff. All three scoring members turned in solid runs, Ando and Matsuda seconds off their bests and Shimizu, the fastest on the team with a PB of 1:09:41 at last month's National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, just over a minute off hers.

Likewise bronze medal quality on paper with one runner with a 1:00:54 best, two under 1:01:30 and a fourth at 1:01:53, the Japanese men left their races at home as they struggled to make the top five. Komazawa University second-year Naoki Kudo, 5th in last year's World University Games Half Marathon, was the top Japanese man and the only one to break 64 minutes as he finished 22nd in 1:03:41. The other two scoring members, Minato Oishi (Team Toyota) and Keijiro Mogi (Team Asahi Kasei), ran 1:04:11 and 1:04:19 for 28th and 29th, outrunning the U.S.A. by just 17 seconds to keep a place in the top five. Tokyo-based Bedan Karoki (Kenya) of the DeNA corporate team took 2nd overall in 59:36, his first-ever half marathon loss, with former Mazda runner Abayneh Ayele just out of the individual medals in 4th in a PB of 59:59.

World Half Marathon Championships
Cardiff, Great Britain, 3/26/16
click here for complete results

Women
1. Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya) - 1:07:31
2. Cynthia Jerotich Limo (Kenya) - 1:07:34
3. Mary Wacera Ngugi (Kenya) - 1:07:54
4. Netsanet Gudeta (Ethiopia) - 1:08:01
5. Genet Yalew (Ethiopia) - 1:08:01
6. Gladys Chesir Kiptagelai (Kenya) - 1:08:46
7. Pascalia Chepkorir Kipkoech (Kenya) - 1:09:44
8. Dehininet Demsew (Ethiopia) - 1:10:13 - PB
9. Gladys Tejeda (Peru) - 1:10:14 - AR
10. Yuka Ando (Japan) - 1:10:34
-----
14. Miho Shimizu (Japan) - 1:10:51
17. Mizuki Matsuda (Japan) - 1:11:00
36. Hisami Ishii (Japan) - 1:13:41
68. Mirai Waku (Japan) - 1:17:30

Team Scoring
1. Kenya - 3:22:59
2. Ethiopia - 3:26:29
3. Japan - 3:32:25
4. Australia - 3:32:48
5. U.S.A. - 3:34:26

Men
1. Geoffrey Kamworor (Kenya) - 59:10
2. Bedan Karoki (Kenya) - 59:36
3. Mo Farah (Great Britain) - 59:59
4. Abayneh Ayele (Ethiopia) - 59:59 - PB
5. Tamirat Tola (Ethiopia) - 1:00:06 - PB
6. Simon Cheroot (Kenya) - 1:00:12
7. Abrar Osman (Eritrea) - 1:00:58
8. Mule Wasihun (Ethiopia) - 1:01:11
9. Edwin Kiptoo (Kenya) - 1:01:21
10. Stephen Mokoka (South Africa) - 1:01:27
-----
22. Naoki Kudo (Japan) - 1:03:41
28. Minato Oishi (Japan) - 1:04:11
29. Keijiro Mogi (Japan) - 1:04:19
35. Keisuke Nakatani (Japan) - 1:04:43
36. Shogo Nakamura (Japan) - 1:04:49

Team Scoring
1. Kenya - 2:58:58
2. Ethiopia - 3:01:16
3. Eritrea - 3:06:18
4. Great Britain - 3:07:00
5. Japan - 3:12:11

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

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