MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier

MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier - Yuta Shitara

Yuta Shitara

age: 27
sponsor: Honda
graduated from: Musashi Ogose H.S., Toyo University

best time inside MGC window:
2:06:11, 2nd, 2018 Tokyo Marathon (NR)

PB: 2:06:11, 2nd, 2018 Tokyo Marathon (NR)

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:34.68 (2015) 10000 m: 27:41.97 (2017) half marathon: 1:00:17 (NR, 2017)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
1st, 2019 Gold Coast Marathon, 2:07:50
4th, 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:10:25
2nd, 2018 Tokyo Marathon, 2:06:11 (NR)
6th, 2017 Berlin Marathon, 2:09:03

other major results:
10th, 2019 HDC Abashiri 10000 m, 28:17.38
8th, 2019 National Championships 5000 m, 13:47.31
1st, 2019 Golden Games in Nobeoka 10000 m, 27:53.67
5th, 2019 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, 1:01:36
5th, 2019 Kanakuri Memorial Meet 5000 m, 13:35.70
4th, 2018 Ageo City Half Marathon, 1:01:59
1st, 2018 East Japan Corporate Ekiden Seventh Stage (12.9 km), 37:42 – CR
1st, 2018 Karatsu 10-Miler, 46:12
2nd, 2018 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:01:13
1st, 2017 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler, 45:58
8th, 2017 Usti nad Labem Half Marathon, 1:00:17 – NR
11th, 2017 Tokyo Marathon, 2:09:27
7th, 2017 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:01:19
29th, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olymipcs 10000 m, 28:55.23
3rd, 2016 National Championships 10000 m, 28:17.51
23rd, 2015 Beijing World Championships 10000 m, 30:08.35
2nd, 2015 National Championships 10000 m, 28:31.32
1st, 2014 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage (21.5 km), 1:02:13
1st, 2013 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage (21.5 km), 1:04:36
14th, 2012 NYC Half Marathon, 1:01:48
1st, 2012 Hakone Ekiden Seventh Stage (21.3 km), 1:02:32 – CR

If there’s one person who’s going to decide whether the MGC Race is the best marathon of 2019 or the most tedious it’s Shitara. That seems to be the general consensus, and Shitara himself, a former Hakone Ekiden star, former marathon national record holder, and current half marathon national record holder, has pretty much said as much.

After breaking one of Yuki Sato’s three Hakone stage records and outkicking Dathan Ritzenhein at the 2012 NYC Half as a relatively unknown second-year at Toyo University Shitara won the almost legendary 2013 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage over three of his main rivals at the MGC Race, Suguru Osako, Shogo Nakamura and Hiroto Inoue. Going on to the Honda corporate team he has dominated the New Year Ekiden’s marathoner-oriented long stage ever since.

Moving on to the marathon, following his own instincts about training he ran two ambitious marathons, in both of which he went out hard only to fade to a 2:09. In his third time around he got it right, breaking Toshinari Takaoka’s ancient national record with a 2:06:11 and earning over a million dollars U.S for it.

He discovered post-race that he’d been running on a stress fracture, and the recovery from that took longer than planned. In Fukuoka last year he wasn’t fully fit, running only 2:10:25, and he missed the New Year Ekiden and some other races right after that when he came down with the flu. The spring season went well at everything from 5000 m to half marathon, and when he ran July’s Gold Coast Marathon he busted out a fast-closing 2:07:50 to become the second Japanese man ever to win a marathon outside Japan sub-2:08 and the third after Takaoka and Osako to go sub-2:08 twice in his career.

Right after the race Shitara was talking big, saying about the MGC Race “I’m going to win. If we did it right now I’d still win.” A few days later he said, “I’ll be looking to run fast at the MGC Race no matter what the conditions. If you win it in 2:14 or 2:15 you’ll never be competitive at the Olympics. I want to crush it. If this were the Olympics then I realize you’d have to be a bit careful about tactics, but it’s just a race against a bunch of Japanese guys. Running conservatively would be pretty boring.”

So there you go. He couldn't say it any more clearly. If Shitara goes out in character then others, especially Osako, will follow him. If he doesn’t for whatever reason then it’s hard to see any of the other top-tier guys taking the reins. Can he really turn it back around after his Gold Coast run? He ran pretty well in a track 10000 m two weeks later, but that’s the million dollar question for sure.

Next profile: Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project).

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

japan running news

Search This Blog