Shinno Makes Top 8, Matsuda Solos Marathon for 9th - Oregon 22 Day 4 Japanese Results

With both teammates out with COVID it was down to Mizuki Matsuda to represent Japan in the women's marathon at the Oregon 22 World Championships. As the front group went out at World Championships record pace Matsuda let go of both them and a chase group centered around Great Britain's Jess Piasecki and Americans Sara Hall and Emma Bates, all alone by 3 km and running that way the rest of the race. As far back as 17th at one point, by the end of the first 14 km lap she was in 16th, 24 seconds behind the chase group which now included U.S. record holder Keira D'Amato.

As the leading trio went through halfway in 1:09:01 and the chase quartet in 1:10:17 Matsuda was up to 13th in 1:10:38. From there until 40 km it was a steady advance up through the field in pursuit of a top 8 finish, Matsuda closing to within 2 seconds of D'Amato in 8th. But D'Amato had superior closing speed, and held her off 2:23:34 to 2:23:49.

Up front Ethiopian Gotytom Gebreslase, 3rd-placer at this year's Tokyo Marathon in 2:18:18, dropped Kenyan Judith Jeptum Korir to set a stellar new Championships record of 2:18:11. Korir was 9 seconds back for silver, Kenyan-born Israeli Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, 2nd in Nagoya this spring in 2:18:45, taking bronze in 2:20:18. Led by Hall's 2:22:10 for 5th, all three Americans made the top 8, something Japan hasn't pulled off at the World Championships since Paris 2003.

How would things have played out if women-only NR holder Mao Ichiyama and half marathon NR holder Hitomi Niiya had made it to the starting line? It's not likely either of them would have been in the race for a medal, but the team duel with the Americans would have been a hell of a race. Hard not to wonder too what would have happened if Matsuda had worked together with the U.S. group and Piasecki instead of running the last 40 km on her own. In 7 marathon starts to date this was only her second time not going under 2:23. Could she have followed Hall to do it again? We'll never know.

Already the first Japanese man to make a World Championships high jump final, Tomohiro Shinno scored a top 8 placing, clearing 2.27 m on his first attempt but unable to make it over 2.30 m. The legend Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar won with a world-leading 2.37 m, his Tokyo Olympics co-gold medalist Gianmarco Tamberi 4th at 2.33 m on his second attempt behind a NR 2.35 m jump from South Korea's Sanghyeok Woo and Ukrainian Andriy Protsenko, who cleared 2.33 m on his first attempt for bronze.

With three marathoners and at least five coaches and two team officials out with positive COVID tests so far, the latest casualty on the Japanese team was sprinter Yuki Koike, whose positive result was announced 45 minutes before his 200 m heat. His teammates both advanced, Koki Ueyama turning in a 20.26 PB for 2nd in Heat 1 and veteran Shota Iizuka miraculously making it through with a 20.72 for 3rd in Heat 2, the slowest qualifying time to make the semifinals.

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...

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