Skip to main content

MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier - Tadashi Isshiki

Tadashi Isshiki

age: 25
sponsor: GMO
graduated from: Toyokawa H.S., Aoyama Gakuin University

best time inside MGC window:
2:09:43, 13th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon

PB: 2:09:43, 13th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:39.65 (2017) 10000 m: 28:23.40 (2014) half marathon: 1:02:09 (2015)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
11th, 2019 Hamburg Marathon, 2:11:23
10th, 2019 Tokyo Marathon, 2:12:21
17th, 2018 Frankfurt Marathon, 2:14:49
13th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon, 2:09:43 – PB
8th, 2017 Hofu Marathon, 2:15:43

other major results:
20th, 2019 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:02:15
2nd, 2018 Year-End Half Marathon, 1:03:00
4th, 2017 National Championships 5000 m, 13:39.65 – PB
DNF, 2017 Lake Biwa Marathon
3rd, 2017 Hakone Ekiden Second Stage (23.1 km), 1:07:56
1st, 2016 Kanagawa Half Marathon, 1:03:03
3rd, 2016 Hakone Ekiden Second Stage (23.1 km), 1:07:35
11th, 2016 Tokyo Marathon, 2:11:45
2nd, 2015 Gwangju World University Games Half Marathon, 1:04:52
1st, 2015 National University Half Marathon, 1:02:11
13th, 2015 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:02:09 – PB
3rd, 2015 Hakone Ekiden Second Stage (23.1 km), 1:07:45

Isshiki was a high school teammate of 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Yuma Hattori (Toyota), losing to him in every race they ever ran against each other until both made their marathon debuts at the 2016 Tokyo Marathon while still in college. Less than 5 km out Hattori looked to have that one in hand too, but in the last 200 m Isshiki rolled up from behind to take Hattori down for the first time.

In university Isshiki was one of the star runners for four-time Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University, taking 3rd on Hakone’s most competitive stage three times, winning the 2015 National University Half Marathon in course record time and taking silver later the same year in the Gwangju Universiade half marathon. As a marathoner at the GMO corporate team he took a while to match his college debut, not beating it until he ran 2:09:43 in Tokyo last year. He missed qualifying for the MGC Race off that performance, but it gave him a 2:12:17 target for his next time out to qualify off the two-race sub-2:11 average option.

But no matter how easy that looked on paper, it proved harder to execute. He fell two and a half minutes short in Frankfurt last fall, and in Tokyo this year he finished in 2:12:21, an agonizing 4 seconds away from making the Olympic trials. Like Ryu Takaku (Yakult) and others, he opted to try again the next month in Hamburg, and this time it worked out as he ran the second-best time of his career, 2:11:23.

Since then he has taken it slow as he recovers and rebuilds for the Sept. 15 MGC Race. He'll arguably be the best of the four AGU graduates there, but it'll take a big step up for him to run down Hattori, Takaku, or any of the other three Toyo University graduates in the race.

Next profile: Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei).

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

National University Championships Entry Lists and Streaming

The 95th National University Track and Field Championships run Friday through Monday at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. The complete meet schedule and live results are here . The 10000 m races were already held separately earlier this season. Streaming starts at 9:00 a.m. Saturday Japan time, with separate field event channels and Day 2 and 3 streaming here . Top entries in each event with best performance in the qualifying window: Men 100 m Shoma Yamamoto (Hiroshima Univ.) - 10.04 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.07 Naoki Nishioka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 10.09 Riku Oishi (Toyo Univ.) - 10.13 Kaito Kuroki (Chuo Univ.) - 10.14 Ryunosuke Mizuno (Waseda Univ.) - 10.14 Yugo Haitamataira (Juntendo Univ.) - 10.17 Shun Miyashita (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.19 200 m Akira Hayashi (Keio Univ.) - 20.36 Tomoru Funaki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 20.39 Oma Asai (Tsukuba Univ.) - 20.47 Reishin Yamamoto (Toyo Univ.) - 20.49 Shingo Suzuki (Tokai Univ.) - 20.54 Haruto Nakamura (Fukuoka Univ.) - 20.55 400 m Shinya Hayashi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Yuasa and Niiya Win Hokkaido Marathon, 6 Qualify for Olympic Trials

  Six more people picked up qualifying spots for next year's MGC Race at yesterday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, guaranteeing themselves places at Japan's 2028 Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials. In the men's race, Hibiki Yoshida tried to break away from the massive lead group at 30 km, opening a 25-second lead between there and 35 km before getting cut down by the chase trio of Jin Yuasa , Ken Tansho and Masato Arao . All three stayed together until the very end, Yuasa showing the same kind of closing speed he had in winning 2025 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon and pulling away to win in 2:10:46. The debuting Tansho was next in 2:10:55, with Arao, 6th at last year's Sydney Marathon in an excellent 2:07:42, 3rd here in 2:10:59. By clearing 2:12:00 all three picked up MGC qualifying spots, freeing them up to go overseas next spring. Continuing a great season, Soka University 's Shoki Yamaguchi was 4th in 2:11:47, missing out on trials qualification but bea...
1 comment
Read more

Monterey Welcomes Student-Athletes from Sister City Nanao, Japan

a press release by the Monterey-Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project photos here Fourteen student-athletes from Nanao High School in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, recently completed a weeklong visit to the Monterey Peninsula as part of the Monterey–Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project , bringing together young people from the two Sister Cities through running, education, environmental stewardship, cultural exchange, and friendship. The seven boys and seven girls from Nanao were paired with 14 members of the Monterey High School cross country team and stayed in their homes throughout the visit. The week marked the first half of a reciprocal exchange that will continue when the Monterey students travel to Nanao later this year. The visitors received their first introduction to Monterey shortly after arriving at Monterey High School, walking with their hosts to Sister City Park and gathering for photographs beside the sign honoring Nanao — a fitting beginning for a week devoted to bringin...
Post a Comment
Read more