Larsson and Kiptui Survive Scorching Stockholm Marathon

Record-breaking temperatures around 30 degrees prevented the kinds of times organizers hoped a new course would deliver for the Stockholm Marathon's 40th running, with Mikaela Larsson (Sweden) and Lawi Kiptui (Kenya) proving the toughest in the heat with wins in 2:40:28 and 2:13:30.

Defending women's champ Konjit Tilahun Biruk was part of an Ethiopian trio that went out on 2:35 pace, Larsson holding back with seven-time winner Isabellah Andersson (Sweden) at a slightly more conservative 2:37 pace. The front group soon stalled, and just past 15 km the Sweden pair made contact. For the next 10 km the new lead group stuck together, but as the race wore on the heat proved too much and they dropped away one by one. By 30 km Larsson had a clear lead and ran on alone to take the top spot in front of a delighted home crowd inside Stockholm's 1912 Olympic Stadium.

Beji Bekelu (Ethiopia) held on to 2nd in 2:43:55, but Andersson was run down by another Swedish runner, Caroline Almkvist, who started slower and caught her late in the race for 3rd, 2:44:49 to 2:44:59. 5th last year, Japan's Yoshiko Sakamoto (YWC) struggled with the heat from the early going and was never a factor.

The men's race went out on 2:14 pace with Houston Marathon winner Bazu Worku (Ethiopia), Boston Marathon winner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) and others in tow behind two pacers. At 15 km Worku made a bizarre move, throwing in a 14:51 split to open a lead of almost two minutes over the rest of the pack. Just over 15 km later he dropped out after slowing to over 4:00/km. For his part Kawauchi was unable to deal with the conditions, losing touch on an uphill after 10 km and almost a minute behind the main pack at halfway.

Unfazed by Worku's choice of tactics, Kiptui waited until the hilliest section of the course near 30 km to make a move of his own. Ratcheting up his pace over the rolling terrain, Kiptui split 15:14 and 15:07 for the next two 5 km segments and finished hard for the win in 2:13:30 just seconds off his PB and a solid 1:07:52/1:05:38 negative split.

For the rest of the field it was a game of sheer survival. Six of the seven Ethiopian men dropped out. Dominic Kimwetich Kangor and Stephen Kiplimo were left far behind by Kiptui's incredible finish but made it a Kenyan sweep of the podium in 2:16:22 and 2:17:01 for 2nd and 3rd. In 12th at halfway, Kawauchi gutted out a 4th-place finish despite continually slowing down, crossing the line in 2:22:57. Almost 9 minutes slower than his 6th-place performance in Stockholm last year, it was the second-slowest of his 82 marathons to date. "That was hot," he said post-race. "I'm definitely not going to run the Tokyo Olympic trials after this. I liked the new course, though. If we'd had the kind of weather we had last year it would have gone a lot better."

40th Stockholm Marathon

Stockholm, Sweden, 6/2/18
click here for complete results

Women
1. Mikaela Larsson (Sweden) - 2:40:28
2. Beji Bekelu (Ethiopia) - 2:43:55
3. Caroline Almkvist (Sweden) - 2:44:49
4. Isabellah Andersson (Sweden) - 2:44:59
5. Ellen Persson (Sweden) - 2:45:07
6. Hanna Vandenbussche (Belgium) - 2:46:06
7. Ida-Maria Nicklasson (Sweden) - 2:47:20
8. Kojit Tilahun Biruk (Ethiopia) - 2:48:54
-----
44. Yoshiko Sakamoto (Japan/YWC) - 3:16:41
-----
DNF - Kumeshi Sichala (Ethiopia)
DNF - Zsofia Erdelyi (Hungary)

Men
1. Lawi Kiptui (Kenya) - 2:13:30
2. Dominic Kimwetich Kangor (Kenya) - 2:16:22
3. Stephen Kiplimo (Kenya) - 2:17:01
4. Yuki Kawauchi (Japan/Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 2:22:57
5. Abebe Hunde (Ethiopia) - 2:27:34
6. Mustafa Mohamed (Sweden) - 2:27:39
7. Felix Kipkemboi Keny (Kenya) - 2:28:08
8. John Musee Muthui (Kenya) - 2:29:14
-----
DNF - Bazu Worku (Ethiopia)
DNF - Alebachew Wale (Ethiopia)
DNF - Samuel Getachew (Ethiopia)
DNF - Belay Assefa (Ethiopia)
DNF - Workneh Tiruneh (Ethiopia)
DNF - Urgessa Kedir (Ethiopia)

text and photos © 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

japan running news

Search This Blog