Gosa Over Habtegebrel in Ethiopian Bahraini Duel at Saitama International Marathon

For the second year in a row Bahraini Shitaye Habtegebrel found herself knocked down to 2nd in the Saitama International Marathon's home straight, this time to fellow Ethiopian-born emigrant Dalila Gosa.

Part of a group of nine that immediately separated from the main body of the elite women-only race behind three pacers, both Gosa and Habtegebrel stayed at the front of the pack on mid-2:25 to low-2:26 pace as its five Japanese constituents and lone Ethiopian national Fatuma Sado dropped off one by one. When the last pacer stepped off at 30 km Habtegebrel and Gosa took turns leading in a successful effort to drop Kenyan Sylvia Kibet.

Last year Habtegebrel lost out to Flomena Cheych Daniel of Kenya by 3 seconds in the home straight, both of them ultimately having their times disallowed due to poor direction on the final corner. This time both Gosa and Habtegebrel successfully turned at the right spot thanks to improved course marking and marshaling, but Habtegebrel again lacked the closing speed to seal the win. Gosa took 1st in a PB of 2:25:35, Habtegebrel this time 4 seconds behind.

Kibet held on to 3rd in 2:28:38, exactly where the top Japanese woman needed to be to clear the 2:29:00 standard for qualification for Japan's 2020 Olympic marathon trials event, next September's MGC Race. It looked as though the last two Japanese women left in the pack, Marie Imada (Iwatani Sangyo) and Saki Tokoro (Kyocera) might be able to work together to stay under 2:29 pace, but when Tokoro fell off Imada began to lag. A rally from 30 to 35 km gave her a chance of clearing the qualification cutoff by about 30 seconds, but despite taking almost 2 1/2 minutes off her best Imada came up just short with a 2:29:35 for 4th.

London World Championships team member Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) overtook Tokoro for 5th in 2:31:07, with Tokoro setting a new PB of 2:32:11 for 6th. Opting again this year to run the mass-participation race starting 30 minutes after the elite race after winning it three years in a row, local amateur Tomomi Sawahata (Sawahatters) took over 4 minutes off her best to win in a course record 2:35:58. Her time would have put her 9th in the elite race just behind the equally interesting Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead), who was 8th in the elite race in 2:34:47 in her fourth marathon in four weeks. There is a world of different motivations out there, and not everyone wants to follow the same dream.

With Saitama the elite-level Japanese women's marathon season pretty well comes to an end for 2018, the absolute last shot coming at the minor Hofu Yomiuri Marathon next weekend. The Japanese women's average of their ten fastest marathons of the year was 2:24:59, their best since 2005 and fourth-best ever. But with With Gosa and Habtegebrel's pair of times the Bahraini women's average for 2018 came to 2:24:37, surpassing the Japanese women for the first time. Bahrain ends the year ranked #3 behind the homelands of its athletes, Ethiopia and Kenya.

4th Saitama International Marathon

Saitama, 12/9/18
complete results

Elite Women - 9:10 a.m. start
1. Dalila Gosa (Bahrain) - 2:25:35 - PB
2. Shitaye Habtegebrel (Bahrain) - 2:25:39
3. Sylvia Jebiwot Kibet (Kenya) - 2:28:38
4. Marie Imada (Japan/Iwatani Sangyo) - 2:29:35 - PB
5. Mao Kiyota (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:31:07
6. Saki Tokoro (Japan/Kyocera) - 2:32:11 - PB
7. Miharu Shimokado (Japan/Brooks) - 2:34:21
8. Hiroko Yoshitomi (Japan/Memolead) - 2:34:47
9. Yuko Mizuguchi (Japan/Denso) - 2:36:59
10. Asami Furuse (Kyocera) - 2:41:36
-----
DNF - Fatuma Sado (Ethiopia)

Mass-Participation Women - 9:40 a.m. start
1. Tomomi Sawahata (Sawahatters) - 2:35:58 - CR, PB

Mass-Participation Men - 9:40 a.m. start
1. Naoki Inoue - 2:20:03

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview

The Nagoya Women's Marathon , the world's largest women-only marathon and the last race in the selection cycle for September's Tokyo World Championships, happens Sunday. Weather conditions are looking better than what they had in Tokyo and Osaka the last two weekends, 7˚ at the start and rising to 12˚ with sunny skies. The wind looks a bit stronger than ideal, but it could be worse. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. Sunday local time, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch the TVer streaming . One option for a leaderboard is here , and another here . We'll have some coverage on @JRNLive . Just like last time around there are three Ethiopian and Kenyan-born athletes at the top list, this time it being sub-2:20 women Sheila Chepkirui , winner in NYC last year, and Ruti Aga , winner in Xiamen in January, and last year's Nagoya runner-up Eunice Chebichii Chumba . But last year Yuka Ando still pulled off the win, so there's a c...

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...

japan running news

Search This Blog