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2020 Olympic Marathoner Suzuki Withdraws from Kumanichi 30 km With Injury

On Feb. 10 the organizers of this Sunday's Kumanichi 30 km Road Race announced that invited athlete Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post), a member of Japan's marathon team for the 2020 Olympics, has withdrawn. According to an official, Suzuki sustained a pulled muscle in the back of her right thigh. She had experienced pain in her right thigh in late January while training in the United States.

After returning to Japan the pain was diagnosed as a pulled muscle, and in the interest of being cautious she decided to withdraw from Kumanichi. As she recovers she intends to resume training. Suzuki finished 2nd at last September's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials to secure her place on the Olympic team.

Translator's note: Along with Suzuki, male invited athletes Kazuki Muramoto (Sumitomo Denko) and 2020 Hakone Ekiden First Stage winner Ren Yonemitsu (Soka Univ.) have also withdrawn.  Last year both Suzuki and men's Olympic marathon team member Yuma Hattori (Toyota) were scheduled to run the Ome 30 km the same day as Kumanichi but withdrew with injuries, in Suzuki's case plantar problems in her right foot. This year Hattori also withdrew from the Marugame Half earlier this month.

source article:
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20200210-00000184-kyodonews-spo
translated by Brett Larner

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