Skip to main content

MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier - Kentaro Nakamoto

Kentaro Nakamoto

age: 36
sponsor: Yasukawa Denki
graduated from: Nishiichi H.S., Takushoku University

best time inside MGC window: 
2:11:34, 2nd, 2019 Krakow Marathon

PB: 2:08:35, 2nd, 2013 Beppu-Oita Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 14:04.31 (2011) 10000 m: 28:54.59 (2012) half marathon: 1:02:12 (2018)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019):
2nd, 2019 Krakow Marathon, 2:11:34
DNF, 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon
5th, 2018 Hokkaido Marathon, 2:12:54
DNS, 2018 Boston Marathon
10th, 2017 London World Championships Marathon, 2:12:41

other major results:
20th, 2019 Hakodate Half Marathon, 1:04:32
11th, 2019 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:03:27
10th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Fifth Stage (15.8 km), 47:11
2nd, 2018 Osaka Half Marathon, 1:02:12 – PB
1st, 2017 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:09:32
5th, 2013 Moscow World Championships Marathon, 2:10:50
2nd, 2013 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:08:35 – PB
6th, 2012 London Olympics Marathon, 2:11:16
4th, 2012 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:08:53
9th, 2011 Daegu World Championships Marathon, 2:13:10
4th, 2011 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:09:31

Nakamoto is Japan’s best championships marathoner of modern times, probably ever, with top 10 finishes in three world championships and the 2012 London Olympics. Now 36, he’s the oldest man to qualify for the MGC Race. Could he do it again? It’s a long shot given where he is in his career, but Nakamoto has proven himself in all weather conditions hot and cold and in the pressure of a high-stakes championship, so it’d be a mistake to complete count him out.

Nakamoto started off 2018 with a surprising 1:02:12 PB at the Osaka Half Marathon, but a stress fracture right before the Boston Marathon knocked him out of a tough conditions race he could have won. Bouncing back from that he qualified for the MGC Race with only a 2:12:54 for 5th at last summer’s Hokkaido Marathon, then DNFed in Fukuoka and missed the Olympic standard by 4 seconds with a 2:11:34 for 2nd in Krakow in the spring. His main results since Krakow have been a decent 1:03:27 for 11th at May’s Sendai Half Marathon and a 1:04:32 for 20th at July’s hot and sunny Hakodate Half Marathon. Like bottom-ranked man Tomohiro Tanigawa he graduated from Takushoku University, where he was roommates with future London Olympics teammate Arata Fujiwara.

Next profile: Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku).

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...
2 comments
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...
Post a Comment
Read more

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...
53 comments
Read more