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MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier - Sairi Maeda

Sairi Maeda

age: 27
sponsor: Daihatsu
graduated from: Kumamoto Shinai Joshi Gakuin H.S., Bukkyo University

best time inside MGC window:
2:25:25, 10th, 2019 Nagoya Women’s Marathon

PB: 2:22:48, 2nd, 2015 Nagoya Women’s Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 15:32.22 (2012) 10000 m: 32:03.43 (2014) half marathon: 1:10:24 (2015)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
10th, 2019 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:25:25
2nd, 2018 Hokkaido Marathon, 2:30:56
15th, 2018 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:30:54

other major results:
13th, 2015 Beijing World Championships Marathon, 2:31:46
1st, 2015 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:10:24 – PB
2nd, 2015 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:22:48 – PB
3rd, 2014 Osaka International Women’s Marathon, 2:26:46 – Univ. NR

One of only two women in the field to have gone to university, Maeda set the collegiate national record of 2:26:46 at the Osaka International Women’s Marathon her senior year at Kyoto’s Bukkyo University. In the same race her mother ran 2:55:24, together setting a world record for fastest mother and daughter in the same race.

After graduating and joining the Daihatsu corporate team, Maeda followed up with a 2:22:48 for 2nd at the 2015 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, finishing bloody and scraped after falling at the 15 km drink tables. That qualified her for the 2015 Beijing World Championships team, but in Beijing she couldn’t match her past performances and finished only 13th in 2:31:46.

A long period of injury kept her off the scene until last year’s Nagoya, where she made a tentative comeback with a 2:30:54, adding to that a 2:30:56 for 2nd in August’s hot Hokkaido Marathon. With one more shot at qualifying for the MGC Race she delivered with a 2:25:25 in Nagoya this March. Unquestionably one of the most talented women in the field, Maeda needs just one more step in that comeback progression to land among the top finishers at the MGC Race.

Next profile: Shohei Otsuka (Kyudenko).

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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