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2018 Winner Yuma Hattori to Run Fukuoka International Marathon Again


On Oct. 9 it was learned that Tokyo Olympics men's marathon team member Yuma Hattori (26, Toyota) will run the Dec. 6 Fukuoka International Marathon. It will be the first time a member of either the men's or women's Olympic marathon squads will have run a marathon since the teams were finalized. For Hattori himself it will be his first marathon since taking 2nd at the Olympic marathon trials in September last year. His goal is to run 2:05.

According to an involved source, Hattori chose Fukuoka as his pre-Olympic marathon because he is familiar with the course from his victory there two years ago. He has already committed to running Fukuoka and has done multiple 40 km runs in preparation.

On Oct. 9 Hattori ran the 10000 m at the Chubu Jitsugyodan Track and Field Championships. With a goal of running 28:30 he ran 28:16.28. Hattori was positive about his run saying, "My time was good. So was the way I ran." In the summer he focused on improving his speed, breaking 28 minutes for 10000 m for the first time and then bettering that with a 27:47.55 in mid-September, the fastest time by a Japanese man this year. Looking toward a successful return to Fukuoka, Hattori said, "I want to focus all my training on being ready to break the Japanese national record (2:05:29)."

Hattori being interviewed post-race at Chubu, breaking character, and not realizing it's a live broadcast until he's already out of character:


source article:
https://www.sankei.com/west/news/201005/wst2010050005-n1.html translated by Brett Larner

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Comments

Andrew Armiger said…
Hilarious! I remember his stony demeanor on the podium after MGC.
Brett Larner said…
Yeah, nice to see there's more to him. You don't get to see this side of people much. It was especially hilarious that he did it again and didn't realize it was still rolling post-interview until someone told him and he ran away.

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