Skip to main content

Osaka International Women's Marathon Elite Field


The organizers of next month's Osaka International Women's Marathon have announced the invited field of 43 for Japan's last remaining purely elite marathon. Like the 2021 race, despite the event's name it's a Japanese-only field with male pacers, kind of inevitably on the first point given Japan's ongoing border fortification but a bit regrettably on the second.

For a domestic field it's pretty good, all 17 of the women in it who've run under 2:35 in the last three years having done it either here or in Nagoya. 2020 winner and unlucky Olympic alternate Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) is the favorite, with support from Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku), the 4th-fastest Japanese woman in 2020 and 2021, 2019's fastest Reia Iwade (Adidas), and 2021's 3rd and 4th-placers Yukari Abe (Shimamura) and Mao Uesugi (Starts). 

Six other women in the field have run under the 2:27:00 B-standard for qualification for the 2024 Olympic marathon trials, including current JMC Series I leader Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita), so with the qualifying window now open the race to finish in the 4th-6th place B-standard bracket should be just as good as the one to make the 1st-3rd place A-standard bracket. Alongside the marathon, the Osaka Half Marathon will also feature two-time Osaka International winner Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) in her final race.

Check back closer to race date for options on streaming and following the race live.

41st Osaka International Women's Marathon

Elite Field Highlights
Osaka, 30 Jan. 2022
complete elite field listing

Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) - 2:21:47 (1st, Osaka Int'l 2020)
Sayaka Sato (Seiksui Kagaku) - 2:23:27 (5th, Nagoya Women's 2020)
Reia Iwade (Adidas) - 2:23:52 (5th, Nagoya Women's 2019)
Yukari Abe (Shimamura) - 2:24:41 (3rd, Osaka Int'l 2021)
Mao Uesugi (Starts) - 2:24:52 (4th, Osaka Int'l 2021)
Mizuki Tanimoto (Tenmaya) - 2:25:28 (11th, Nagoya Women's 2019)
Ayano Ikemitsu (Kagoshima Ginko) - 2:26:07 (12th, Nagoya  Women's 2019)
Ayumi Hagiwara (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 2:26:15 (5th, Oaka Int'l 2021)
Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 2:26:26 (3rd, Nagoya Women's 2021)
Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) - 2:26:35 (7th, Osaka Int'l 2020)
Hanae Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) - 2:26:49 (5th, Nagoya Women's 2021)
Misaki Kato (Kyudenko) - 2:27:20 (8th, Nagoya Women's 2021)
Madoka Nakano (Iwatani Sangyo) - 2:27:39 (4th, Osaka Int'l 2019)
Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto) - 2:28:51 (16th, Osaka Int'l 2020)
Anna Matsuda (Denso) - 2:29:52 (8th, Osaka Int'l 2021)
Rie Kawauchi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:31:34 (17th, Nagoya Women's 2021)
Ayano Ikeuchi (Denso) - 2:33:29 (19th, Nagoya Women's 2021)
Mai Fujisawa (Hokkaido Excel AC) - 2:35:52 (1st, Kanazawa 2021)
Asuka Yamamoto (Edion) - 2:36:14 (21th, Osaka Int'l 2020)
Tomomi Sawahata (Sawahatas) - 2:37:02 (1st, Gunma 2021)
Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:38:07 (25th, Nagoya Women's 2021)
Michi Numata (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 2:38:30 (39th, Nagoya Women's 2019)
Saki Tokoro (Kyocera) - 2:38:49 (40th, Nagoya Women's 2019)
Mitsuko Ino (Linkstyle) - 2:39:04 (10th, Osaka 2019)

© 2021 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
I'm very much looking forward to this event. This will indicate whether Sayaka Sato can step up and win an elite marathon and capitalise on her excellent middle distance performances this year. I feel Mizuki Matsuda will run well here as she has done previously. I fully expect a time below 2:23:00 and hopefully one below 2:22:00. I am a fan of Sayaka Sato so I really hope she can break 2:23:00 and achieve a PB here. I think it is a race between these two.
December 23, 2021 at 4:20 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...
3 comments
Read more

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Training for 1:00:44

Hi, I'm Ayumu Kobayashi . Today I'm going to write about this year's National Corporate Half Marathon and the training I did for it. I hope other runners will find it even a little bit helpful. At the Corporate Half on Feb. 13 I was 10th in 1:00:44. My goal had been to run 61 minutes, so I hit that target. My Training Menu In January I ran a total of 681 km. Key workouts: Jan. 11: 1000 m x 5 at 2:50/km Jan. 12: 22.5 km Jan. 15: 9 km variable pace Jan. 17: 25 km Jan. 24: 1000 m x 8 at 2:52/km Jan. 27: 1 km + 4 km + 2 km Jan. 30: 16 km at 3:18/km avg. In January I was tired from the New Year Ekiden and had some knee pain after it, so I just jogged for 10 days until I started doing workouts again on the 11th. That's why I only ran 681 km for the month. But even on the jog days I was aware that I had the Corporate Half coming up, so I was doing around 30 km. It's pretty meat and potatoes, but I think it was really important. February (training for the 10 days before...
2 comments
Read more