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Incehon Asian Games Silver Medalist Kohei Matsumura Retires


On Mar. 16 the Mitsubishi Juko corporate team announced that 2014 Incheon Asian Games men's marathon silver medalist Kohei Matsumura, 34, has retired. Last year he became part of the team's coaching staff while continuing to compete as an athlete, but he will now shift focus to coaching full-time. His final race was last month's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, where he was 156th in 2:18:44.

Head coach Jun Kuroki commented, "He was the first athlete on our team to make a national team and the first to go sub-2:10 in the marathon. I hope he will help shape our next generation of marathoners and help them to become even stronger." 

A native of Takatsuki, Osaka, he was captain of Yamanashi Gakuin University's ekiden team, running the Hakone Ekiden's First Stage his 3rd and 4th years. He joined Mitsubishi Juko after graduating. At the 2014 Tokyo Marathon he ran his PB of 2:08:09. Later the same year he won the silver medal in the matathon at the Incheon Asian Games in a thrilling track sprint finish against Bahraini Ali Hassan Mahboob. After that race he struggled with injury and was never able to return to the same kind of form.

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translated by Brett Larner

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Comments

Metts said…
How many of the coaches in the HS, university, or pro ranks continue to run races after the officially retire?

Or just continue to run?

I know you've posted here or on twitter a few coaches every now and then who run some races, such as a university coach in Tokyo who ran a 10K around 40 minutes or so.

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