Shimoda Qualifies for Paris Olympic Trials at Ottawa Marathon

Three Japanese athletes ran Sunday's Tartan Ottawa International Marathon in an effort to score qualifying marks for the 2023 MGC Race, Japan's marathon trials for the 2024 Paris Olympics. In the men's race, Yuta Shimoda (GMO) and Takumi Oishi (Suzuki) went with the leaders all the way until eventual winner Andualem Shiferaw (Ethiopia) made his move before 30 km. Shiferaw, the favorite with a best of 2:05:52, was stellar over the second half, going 1:03:52 / 1:02:12 to set a new course record 2:06:04 for the win.

When Shiferaw attacked, Oishi, coached by 2010 Ottawa winner Arata Fujiwara, immediately dropped off, ultimately finishing 8th in 2:15:50. Shimoda, who ran 2:08:35 at March's Tokyo Marathon and needed to run 2:11:25 here to qualify for the trials, hung on to 3rd, overtaken by Abdi Ali Gelchu (Bahrain) and dropping to 4th at one point but running down Leonard Langat (Kenya) just before the finish to retake 3rd.

Yamaguchi went out in a pack of 6 women that ignored early leaders Juliet Chekwel (Uganda) and Rebecca Chesire (Kenya), both of whom eventually dropped out. By halfway that group was down to just Yamaguchi and Kinsey Middleton (Canada), but when Middleton surged on the climb across a bridge near 25 km Yamaguchi lost touch. Middleton went on to win in 2:30:09, but Yamaguchi struggled to keep it together and faded to 5th in 2:35:57.

In his victory interview Shiferaw said through an interpreter, "With the exception of the inconvenience caused by the visa application process, everything was great after I arrived here in Ottawa." This year's elite race was hard-hit by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's new online visa application system, which resulted in at least 12 men and 13 women from Mongolia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Bahrain not receiving their visas or visa-containing passports back from the IRCC in time to travel for the race.

Malcolm Anderson, head of the Moyo Sports agency, said 5 people from his group, 3 athletes and 2 pacers, had been affected. "The passports were in the Addis processing centre with visas approved, but we could not get them to be released in time for travel," Anderson said. "Immensely frustrating for all." Only 8 African athletes in the two races, not including pacers, did get their visas in time for the race. Elite athlete coordinator Dylan Wykes had assembled what would have been the strongest elite fields ever on Canadian soil to run in the nation's capital, but despite gladly taking nearly $200 per athlete in application and processing fees the IRCC apparently had other priorities than letting that happen.

2022 Tartan Ottawa International Marathon

Ottawa, Canada, 29 May 2022

complete results

Men

1. Andualem Shiferaw (Ethiopia) - 2:06:04 - CR

2. Abdi Ali Gelchu (Bahrain) - 2:09:24

3. Yuta Shimoda (GMO) - 2:09:50

4. Leonard Langat (Kenya) - 2:09:56

5. Teshome Mekonen (Ethiopia) - 2:13:27 - debut

6. Justin Kent (Canada) - 2:13:34

7. Albert Kangogo (Kenya) - 2:13:57

8. Takumi Oishi (Suzuki) - 2:15:50

9. John Mastandrea (U.S.A.) - 2:17:28

10. Ben Kendell (U.S.A.) - 2:18:28

Women

1. Kinsey Middleton (Canada) - 2:30:09

2. Elissa Legault (Canada) - 2:33:27

3. Katja Goldring (U.S.A.) - 2:33:58

4. Anne-Marie Blaney (U.S.A.) - 2:34:38

5. Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) - 2:35:57

6. Dayna Pidhoresky (Canada) - 2:36:22

7. Lanni Marchant (Canada) - 2:39:42

8. Megan O'Neil( U.S.A.) - 2:39:55

9. Isabel Vazquez (Mexico) - 2:43:54

10. Chirine Njeim (Lebanon) - 2:46:08

Shimoda photo © 2022 Mika Tokairin, all rights reserved

Oishi and Yamaguchi photos © 2022 Carole Fuchs, all rights reserved

text © 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved