Skip to main content

Nogami Takes Silver in Asian Games Women's Marathon



2017 World Championships women's marathon gold medalist Rose Chelimo, a Kenyan-born Bahraini, duly took gold in Sunday's Jakarta Asian Games marathon, biding her time in a slow race mostly led by 2017 Asian Championships silver medalist Keiko Nogami before taking off at 25 km to win unchallenged in a 2:34:51 Indonesian all comers record.

Behind her the main pack featured duos from Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Mongolia, China and Kyrgyzstan, shedding members along the way before shaking down to a core chase group of four made up of Nogami, South Korean national record holder Do Yeon Kim and teammate Kyung Sun Choi, and North Korean rival Hye Song Kim. The fastest of the four, the South Korean Kim was the first to crack, leaving the other three to fight it out over the last 10 km for silver and bronze.

Choi, the only one in the chase trio not to have broken 2:30, launched a brief attack but was quickly reeled in by Nogami and Kim. Nogami returned fire with 5 km to go and dropped Choi, earning herself a medal in the process but the color still to be determined. She settled that at 40 km with another surge that broke her free of the North Korean, running alone the rest of the way to take silver in 2:36:27 and clearing the old Indonesian all comers record by nearly a minute. From 40 km to the finish she was 23 seconds faster than winner Chelimo but too far back to regain contact.

Kim held on to bronze in 2:37:20, with Choi close behind in 4th in 2:37:49. Un Ok Jo of North Korea overtook the South Korean Kim for 5th in 2:38:32, with Kim dropping to 6th in 2:39:28. Tanaka, who stopped at one point to tie her shoe, struggled in to a 9th-place finish in 2:42:35.

A relative latecomer to the marathon, Nogami's steady progress and quality performance in the hot conditions in Jakarta mark her as a stronger candidate for the Tokyo 2020 team than her 2:26:33 best would suggest. She qualified for the MGC Race 2020 Olympic with that 2:26:33 earlier this year, and a medal at the Asian Games only reinforces her position. Tanaka coming up short means she will have to try again, maybe once more before the qualifying deadline in March next year.

Jakarta Asian Games Women's Marathon

Jakarta, Indonesia, 8/26/18
complete results

1. Rose Chelimo (Bahrain) - 2:34:51 - ACR
2. Keiko Nogami (Japan) - 2:36:27
3. Hye Song Kim (North Korea) - 2:37:20
4. Kyung Sun Choi (South Korea) - 2:37:49
5. Un Ok Jo (North Korea) - 2:38:32
6. Do Yeon Kim (South Korea) - 2:39:28
7. Munkhzaya Bayartsogt (Mongolia) - 2:40:14
8. Meixia Zhang (China) - 2:41:30
9. Hanae Tanaka (Japan) - 2:42:35
10. Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh (Mongolia) - 2:42:57
-----
DNF - Mariya Korobitskaya (Kyrgyzstan)
DNF - Lihua Gong (China)

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Andrew Armiger said…
Nice! Both Japanese medalists are from Kyushu. ✊🙇
Andrew Armiger said…
Both from Nagasaki Prefecture, in fact!
Brett Larner said…
Inoue from the same high school as Arata Fujiwara.
Andrew Armiger said…
Fujiwara is a distant relative of my wife's family, but I digress. 🙂

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Asian Games Test Event Canceled After Insulation Falls From Venue Ceiling

A section of insulation material fell from the ceiling of Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena, the official venue for squash competition at September's Nagoya Asian Games. There were no injuries, but the city suspended use of the arena until its safety could be guaranteed, resulting in the cancelation of the Asian Games squash test event which was scheduled to have begun on May 14. It is not yet clear whether the arena will be usable for the Asian Games as planned. According to city officials, arena staff found that the insulation material had fallen onto a work walkway 13 m above the ground on the night of May 11. The fallen material was 3.6 m long, 50 cm wide and 2.5 km thick, and was found to be waterlogged. The cause of the accident is unknown, but it is possible that it was caused by rainwater leaking in from the roof. The same insulation material is installed across the entire ceiling, and the city plans to check for the extent of the possible flooding. Asked whether the arena will be re...

Hakone Ekiden Qualifying Race Entry Roster Sizes Increased from 14 to 16

Hakone Ekiden organizers KGRR have announced details for the qualifying half marathon for next year's 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The Yosenkai qualifying race will be held Oct. 17 in Tachikawa, Tokyo. The combined times of the 10 fastest finishers from each participating team will be used for team scoring, with the 10 fastest teams going on the the main event next January and top-placing individuals from teams that do not qualify being names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team. One change from previous years is that the number of runners each school can enter has been increased from 14 to 16. Teams will still only be allowed to have from 10 to 12 athletes on the starting line, but the move gives coaches greater flexibility in making the final decision on their starting rosters. No changes have been made to the qualifying times of 34:00 for 10000 m or 1:13:00 for the half marathon, and the new earlier starting time of 8:30 a.m. introduced last year in an effort to mitigate ...

Nomura and Odagiri Go 3-4 at Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km

2010 Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km Nijmegen, Netherlands, 11/21/10 Women click here for complete women's results 1. Genet Getaneh (Ethiopia) - 47:53 2. Florence Kiplagat (Kenya) - 48:07 3. Sayo Nomura (Meijo Univ.) - 49:43 4. Aki Odagiri (Meijo Univ.) - 51:37 5. Benita Willis (Australia) - 51:51 Men click here for complete men's results 1. Leonard Patrick Komon (Kenya) - 41:13 - WR 2. Abera Kuma (Ethiopia) - 42:01 3. Ayele Abshiro (Ethiopia) - 42:01 4. Abraham Kiplimo (Uganda) - 43:03 5. Berhanu Delale (Ethiopia) - 43:08 ----- 14. Kazuya Watanabe (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 45:31