Alternates Named for World Championships and Asian Games Marathon Teams

The JAAF has announced the alternates for the women's and men's marathon teams that it announced last week for July's Oregon World Championships and September's Hangzhou Asian Games. On the women's side, Yuka Ando (Wacoal), already named to the Hangzhou team, has been listed as alternate for the Oregon team. Ando was the top Japanese woman in last month's Nagoya Women's Marathon, 3rd overall in 2:22:22. Listed as alternate for Hangzhou is Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya), 3rd in January's Osaka International Women's Marathon in a PB of 2:23:05.

On the men's side, Kenya Sonota (JR Higashi Nihon), 2nd Japanese man at February's Tokyo Marathon in a PB of 2:07:23, was named alternate to both the World Championships and Asian Games team. Going down the list of candidates these were without a doubt the top people in line, but having someone already named to one national team as alternate for another, and having one person listed as alternate for both teams, is almost unprecedented decision-making. Can more be around the corner?

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