Skip to main content

Osako Runs Fastest-Ever Japanese Olympic Marathon for 6th - Tokyo Olympics Athletics Day Ten Japanese Results


The men's marathon wrapped up athletics competition at the Tokyo Olympics, with heavy hopes of a medal made all the heavier by a DNF in the men's 4x100 m relay final. When Colombian Jeison Alexander Suarez took the race out harder than expected Japanese marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura held back from going with the front group, setbacks in his training over the last year giving him reason for caution. 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Yuma Hattori and 5000 m national record holder Suguru Osako went with it, Hattori lasting through 20 km before dropping and Osako until just after 30 km when eventual winner Eliud Kipchoge dropped a 14:28 split for the next 5 km.

Osako worked his way into 6th and looked briefly like he might catch back up to the main chase group of four, but once he got within 15 seconds of them he stalled and simply held position. Kipchoge took his second-straight Olympic gold in 2:08:38. Somali-born Abdi Nageeya and Bashir Abdi took silver and bronze for the Netherlands and Belgium respectively, beating Kenyan Lawrence Cherono in a three-way sprint finish in 2:09:58 and 2:10:00. In his final race before retiring Osako was 6th in 2:10:41, the fastest-ever by a Japanese man at the Olympics by 14 seconds and tying Kentaro Nakamoto's placing at the 2012 London Olympics. Post-race he said that it is now time for the next generation to take over. 

Nakamura overtook Hattori late in the race to finish 62nd in 2:22:23, saying afterward that he had had injury setbacks and difficulty with getting his training in during the pandemic. Hattori, who had also suffered injury setbacks in the last year, limped in to place73rd out of 76 finishers, stopping and walking in the home straight but running across the line. Immediately after he finished he was taken away by wheelchair to the medical area, head lolling back and to one side. It wasn't the outcome anyone could have hoped for, and hopefully there is more ahead for the talented Nakamura and Hattori.

photo © 2021 David Motozo Rubenstein, all rights reserved
text © 2021 Mika Tokairin, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Andrew Armiger said…
Suguru Osako was a full minute faster than he ran at the MGC Race, with the reminiscent late race side stitch in rather similar weather conditions.
August 9, 2021 at 2:16 AM
Stefan said…
Suguru Osako ran a great race. Huge props to him. I think half the struggle is to get to the start line in full or near full fitness and injury free. The rest is to perform on the day under the conditions. He did both superbly. It was a great race to watch.
August 9, 2021 at 5:21 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
82 comments
Read more

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...
54 comments
Read more

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .
77 comments
Read more