Khapilina and Sbaai Win Sofia Marathon, Yamaguchi 4th

With her plans ruined when last week's Kosice Peace Marathon canceled its elite race and most of its mass-participation race in response to a change in government policies a few days before the race, the Ukraine's Viktoriya Khapilina regrouped and headed to Bulgaria's Wizz Air Sofia Marathon. Controlling the race nearly from start to finish with a few mid-race challenges from Kenyan Naom Jebet, Khapilina went through halfway in 1:14:13 before picking it up to drop Jebet. With a 1:13:44 second half she took the win in a PB of 2:27:57, almost five minutes under the old course record and the fastest women's marathon ever run on Bulgarian soil.

Jebet was 2nd in 2:28:41, with 3rd-placer Cynthia Kosgei of Kenya also under the hold course and all-comers' records in 2:32:10. The first elite Japanese woman to race a marathon outside Japan this year and running with support from JRN, Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) was 4th in 2:32:49 off a 1:16:15 first half. Yamaguchi missed joining the top three under the old record by 15 seconds, but her time was fastest performance yet outside Japan. "My time was at the faster end of what I'd hoped to do today, so I'm pretty happy with that," she said post-race. "I'm disappointed with 4th place, though." Focusing mostly on December's National Championships 10000 m, Yamaguchi's only other marathon planned this year is the Dec. 20 Hofu Marathon, where she will run as a guide runner for a blind male Paralympian.

The men's race came down to a head-to-head battle between Moroccans Raduan Nouini and Youssef Sbaai. Nouini threw in a few mid-race surges to break the mostly Kenyan pack including former 2:04 man Jonathan Maiyo, but in the end the only one he couldn't shake was 40-year-old Sbaai. Coming down the home straight side-by-side, the pair crossed the finish line at the same time in 2:13:03. On review Sbaai was given the win, with Nouini 2nd.

3rd in 2:16:21 Mohamed Ali of the Netherlands had an even harder time of it than women's winner Khapilina. Originally scheduled to run Kosice last weekend, he shifted to Romania's Bucharest Marathon, scheduled the same day as Sofia. When Bucharest canceled on Friday Ali was reported to have driven 400 km overnight to get to Sofia, where he was given a bib and a chance. Sunday's Riga Marathon was also scaled back at the last minute, making Sofia, with around 2000 participants from 37 countries across events and elites from ten countries making the top ten in the women's and men's marathons, the exception and not the rule. But for everything Khapilina and especially Ali's experiences said about what's ahead for athletes trying to return to the roads, the Sofia Marathon was a brief glimmer of hope that better days are ahead somewhere.

35th Wizz Air Sofia Marathon

Sofia, Bulgaria, 11 Oct., 2020
complete results

Women

1. Viktoriya Khapilina (Ukraine) - 2:27:57 - CR, ACR, PB
2. Naom Jebet (Kenya) - 2:28:41 (CR)
3. Cynthia Kosgei (Kenya) - 2:32:10 (CR)
4. Haruka Yamaguchi (Japan) - 2:32:49
5. Marta Akeno (Kenya) - 2:33:25
6. Clementine Mukandanga (Rwanda) - 2:38:51
7. Jane Bareikis (U.S.A.) - 2:38:53
8. Yulia Tarasova (Ukraine) - 2:55:23
9. Ilham Mouradi (Morocco) - 3:00:03
10. Dikia Drori (Israel) - 3:03:52

Men

1. Youssef Sbaai (Morocco) - 2:13:03
2. Raduan Nouini (Morocco) - 2:13:03
3. Mohamed Ali (Netherlands) - 2:16:21
4. Duncan Koech (Kenya) - 2:17:09
5. Praduau Uladzislau (Belarus) - 2:17:49
6. Jonathan Maiyo (Kenya) - 2:22:32
7. MOhammed Hajjy (Morocco) - 2:24:44
8. Gideon Tamar (Israel) - 2:26:59
9. Victor Chelokoi (Kenya) - 2:27:22
10. Craig Kynkin (South Africa) - 2:28:44

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

16 Women and 26 Men on the Current Olympic Trials Qualifier List

Last weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon the weekend before brought the main part of the first year of qualification for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials to be held in Nagoya in October, 2027, to an end. There are still a few races like the Nagano Marathon and overseas World Athletics platinum label races this season where people might qualify, but for the most part we're not likely to see many new additions until August's Hokkaido Marathon, where the qualifying period opened last year. As of right now 16 women and 26 men have qualified, although the first woman to make the cut, Ai Hosoda , announced that she was retiring after Tokyo earlier this month. Out of the 16 women to have qualified so far, Mikuni Yada is the fastest with her 2:19:57 debut at Osaka Women's in January. Including Hosoda that makes 2 qualifiers for the Edion corporate team, but Daihatsu has the biggest share of the field so ...

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

japan running news

Search This Blog