Skip to main content

Osaka International Women's Marathon Elite Field


The Osaka International Women's Marathon jumps into the World Athletics platinum label pool Jan. 29 with its 42nd edition. A-group pacing it set to go at 3:19~20/km, 2:19:57 to 2:20:39 pace, with organizers opting to switch back to female pacers after two years with men. They've pulled in a trio of recent 2:20-level women, Kenyan Maurine Chepkemoi and Ethiopians Haven Hailu Desse and Sisay Meseret Gola, to try to max out the chances that the top Japanese women will be able to ride that in to something close to sub-2:20, and have tweaked the course a bit to do the same.

Yuka Ando (Wacoal) is the only Japanese woman in the race to have gone sub-2:22 in her career, but in terms of times in the last three years she's one of three coming in with a 2:22, alongside last year's runner-up Mao Uesugi (Starts) and Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku). Tokyo Olympian Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) is in the mix too with a 2:23:30 in Osaka two years ago and some good half marathons last year, if she can make it to the starting line.

Interesting debuts include sub-70 half marathoner Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada Holdings), steepler Yumi Yoshikawa (Uniqlo), Yuna Daito (Tenmaya), and the long-awaited first stab from 2009 World University Games 10000 m gold medalist Kasumi Nishihara (Sysmex). Hidden away deep in the field without a recent qualifying time but given special permission from the JAAF to run is collegiate record holder Sairi Maeda (Daihatsu), running her first marathon since 2019. 60+ world record holder Mariko Yugeta (Saitama T&F Assoc.) is also back for the race where she ran her 2:52:13 WR two years ago.

Things are starting to count down toward the qualification deadline for the MGC Race, Japan's Paris Olympics marathon trials next October. Sato, Ando and Uesugi have all already qualified and can just focus on time. Likewise for mid-fielders Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) and Reia Iwade (Denso). The main question will be whether Honami Maeda, winner of the last MGC Race, can finally get a qualifying mark in. To do that, she and others will need to finish in the first three Japanese places and sub-2:28, in the next three Japanese places and sub-2:27, or any domestic place beyond that and sub-2:24. Chiharu Ikeda (Hitachi) has the lowest bar to make the cut through the two-race 2:28:00 average option, her 2:26:50 in Nagoya last spring meaning she only needs to run 2:29:10 or better whatever place she finishes.

Fuji TV will broadcast the race live starting at noon on Jan. 29. Check back closer to race date for more info on following live.

42nd Osaka International Women's Marathon

Elite Field Highlights
Osaka, 29 Jan. 2023
times listed are best in last 3 years except where noted

Maurine Chepkemoi (Kenya) - 2:20:18 (Amsterdam 2021)
Haven Hailu Desse (Ethiopia) - 2:20:19 (Amsterdam 2021)
Sisay Meseret Gola (Ethiopia) - 2:20:50 (Seville 2022)
Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:22:13 (Berlin 2022)
Yuka Ando (Wacoal) - 2:22:22 (Nagoya 2022)
Mao Uesugi (Starts) - 2:22:29 (Osaka Int'l 2022)
Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) - 2:23:30 (Osaka Int'l 2021) - scratch due to injury
Sairi Maeda (Daihatsu) - 2:25:25 (Nagoya 2019)
Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) - 2:26:35 (Osaka Int'l 2020)
Chiharu Ikeda (Hitachi) - 2:26:50 (Nagoya 2022)
Risper Gesabwa (Mexico) - 2:26:55 (Valencia 2021)
Reia Iwade (Denso) - 2:27:03 (Nagoya 2022)
Munkhzaya Bayartsogt (Mongolia) - 2:28:03 (Osaka Int'l 2020)
Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Yamaguchi) - 2:28:51 (Osaka Int'l 2020)
Alice Wright (Great Britain) - 2:29:08 (Houston 2022)
Anna Matsuda (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 2:29:52 (Osaka Int'l 2021)
Yui Okada (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:30:03 (Tokyo 2022)
Nana Sato (Starts) - 2:30:24 (Nagoya 2022)
Misato Horie (Sysmex) - 2:32:10 (Osaka 2022)
Madoka Nakano (Iwatani Sangyo) - 2:32:56 (Osaka Int'l 2021) - scratch due to injury
Mariko Yugeta (Saitama T&F Assoc.) - 2:52:13 (Osaka Int'l 2021)

Debut/Do-Over
Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada Holdings) - 1:09:14 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Yumi Yoshikawa (Uniqlo) - 1:10:07 (Sanyo Half 2021)
Yuna Daito (Tenmaya) - 1:10:12 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) - 1:11:02 (Sanyo Half 2021)
Honoka Tanaike (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:11:13 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Kasumi Nishihara (Sysmex) - 1:52:27 (Osaka 30 km 2022)

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr