Skip to main content

Rio Olympics Marathoner Fukushi Pulls Out of Sunday's Hakodate Half With Foot Pain, Coach Denies Stress Fracture (updated)

http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASJ6Q3JD3J6QKTQ2006.html

translated by Brett Larner

On June 22 the organizers of the June 26 Hakodate Half Marathon announced that Rio Olympics women's marathon team member Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) has pulled out of Sunday's race due to pain in her right foot.  After returning mid-month from a training camp in the U.S.A. Fukushi went to the hospital to undergo examination before making the decision to withdraw.

The details are not clear, but there is a possibility of a stress fracture and the team has opted to take it seriously.  Wacoal head coach Tadayuki Nagayama was cautious looking toward August's main event, commenting, "We really have to watch our step here, but training will continue."  He indicated that Fukushi plans to race abroad in July as a tuneup for Rio.

Update:

http://www.daily.co.jp/newsflash/general/2016/06/22/0009212045.shtml

In response to reports that Rio de Janeiro Olympics women's marathon team member Kayoko Fukushi (34, Team Wacoal) may have sustained a stress fracture, Wacoal head coach Tadayuki Nagayama, 56, denied the news, telling the press, "It is not broken."  He said that she has some inflammation of the fourth metatarsal in her right foot that led them to pull out of the June 26 Hakodate Half Marathon, that there is no fracture, that they are making necessary adjustments to her training and continuing to prepare for the Olympics.

Regarding Fukushi's condition coach Nagayama said, "She can train, but it's possible some problems may surface during the Olympics.  She can really take a lot of pain, so if we overdo it now there's a potential danger [of a stress fracture], yes.  Rest is critical to a quick recovery."

According to coach Nagayama, Fukushi's right foot started to hurt around the time of the May 15 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, but she continued with her training after that.  This month she underwent two medical examinations at her training base in the U.S. and after returning to Japan on the 18th, but although inflammation of the fourth metatarsal on her right foot was found neither examination discovered a stress fracture.

Currently Fukushi is doing 20-30 km training runs.  "The goal is August 14, so we can't take unnecessary risks now," Nagayama said of the decision to pull out of Hakodate.  She will not race again before Rio, stepping onto the biggest stage with no dry run, but, said coach Nagayama, "She's doing race pace in training, so we'll see how she looks during practice."  Emphasizing that there was no problem, he said, "Although there are some changes to the pace of her workouts in the 50 days left [until the Olympic marathon] we don't plan any major changes.  We'll proceed with preparations at that pace.  As long as she doesn't fall during the race I think she'll be fine."

Comments

Wiliam said…
Wow! It sounds that this race is pretty exciting. I like...

Most-Read This Week

'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 .

Japan's First Goldless Day - Asian Athletics Championships Day Four Highlights

Day 4 of the Bangkok Asian Athletics Championships was the first without a single gold medal going to Japan, but there were still enough silvers and bronzes to go around. Robyn Lauren Brown of the Philippines outclassed the rest of the women's 400 mH final field, taking gold in 57.50. Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto made it a Japanese 2-3, Utsunomiya running 57.73 for silver and Yamamoto 57.80 for bronze. Yusaku Kodama also scored silver in the men's 400 mH, running 48.96 behind Qatari winner Bassem Hemeida 's 48.64. Yuki Yamasaki won bronze in the heptathlon with 5696 points, Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina taking gold in 6098 and Swapna Barman silver in 5840. Teammate Karin Odama was 4th in 5487. Another bronze came in the mixed 4x400 m relay, with Japan running 3:15.71 behind India's 3:14.70 and Sri Lanka's 3:15.41. Naoto Hasegawa and Ryoichi Akamatsu both cleared 2.23 m in the men's high jump, Hasegawa finishing 4th overall and Akamatsu 5th. ...

'Kobe 2024: Monday Sees Shocking Wins on the Track and the Field'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-monday-sees-shocking-wins-track-and-field Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships  are here .