Skip to main content

Matsuda Anchors Osaka to National Women's Ekiden Title, Junior High Schooler Drury 9:02 For 3 km


The top Japanese woman in the marathon at last summer's Oregon World Championships, Mizuki Matsuda went from 3rd to 1st on the anchor stage to give the Osaka team its fourth national title Sunday at the National Women's Ekiden in Kyoto.

Osaka was 4th after the 6.0 km 1st leg and was never worse that than. 2nd runner Saya Nakajima put them in the lead, where they stayed for the next five of the 42.195 km race's nine stages except for a brief drop back to 4th when its fourth runner Chihiro Sato struggled. Fifth runner Yua Tsukamoto turned it back around, but with only a 1-second lead at the start of her stage junior high schooler Rio Kawamura couldn't hold off Fukuoka's Shiina Sugahara and Tokyo's Yuna Oki and dropped to 3rd.

Matsuda started only 5 seconds out of 1st and had no trouble overtaking Tokyo anchor Yuri Karasawa and Fukuoka's Wakana Itsuki to go back out front. Matsuda turned in the fastest run on the 10.0 km anchor stage, 31:22, to bring Osaka home in 2:15:48, the fastest of its four wins in the National Women's Ekiden's 41-year history.


Two-time defending champ Kyoto was never really in contention for the win, moving up from 5th to 2nd in 2:16:37 on the final leg thanks to anchor Hina Yanagitani running the fastest time after Matsuda, 31:54. Fukuoka narrowly held on to 3rd in 2:16:47, beating a fast-closing Kanagawa by only 2 seconds. Tokyo came up short of bettering its best-ever finishing position of 3rd, falling from 2nd to 5th in 2:17:13 on the anchor stage.

In individual racing the star of the day was 9th-grader Sherry Drury. Starting for Okayama in 38th out of 47 teams on the 3.0 km JHS-only 3rd leg, Drury cut 8 seconds off the course record for the leg, running 9:02 and passing 17 people en route. Her splits were reported to have been 2:55 - 3:04 - 3:03. People like Yuriko Kobayashi, Seira Fuwa and Nanaka Yonezawa made their national-level ekiden debuts on the same stage, and Drury beat them all by 12 seconds. A lot junior talent that shines at the National Women's Ekiden and next weekend's National Men's Ekiden flames out and never really progresses, but Drury definitely put herself on the map of talent to watch over the next few years.

41st National Women's Ekiden

Kyoto, 15 Jan. 2023
47 teams, 9 stages, 42.195 km

Top Individual Stage Results
First Stage (6.0 km) - Haruka Kokai (Niigata) - 19:06
Second Stage (4.0 km) - Nanami Watanabe (Kanagawa) - 12:31
Third Stage (3.0 km) - Sherry Drury (Okayama) - 9:02 - CR
Fourth Stage (4.0 km) - Yumi Yamamoto (Kyoto) - 12:56
Fifth Stage (4.1075 km) - Mao Uesugi (Chiba) - 13:07
Sixth Stage (4.0875 km) - Nozomi Kondo (Kanagawa) - 12:47
Seventh Stage (4.0 km) - Aiko Hosoya (Kyoto) / Machiko Iwasaki (Fukushima) - 12:34
Eighth Stage (3.0 km) - Nonomi Kido (Fukushima) - 9:43
Ninth Stage (10.0 km) - Mizuki Matsuda (Osaka) - 31:22

Top Team Results
1. Osaka - 2:15:48
2. Kyoto - 2:16:37
3. Fukuoka - 2:16:47
4. Kanagawa - 2:16:49
5. Tokyo - 2:17:13
6. Chiba - 2:17:39
7. Kagoshima - 2:18:39
8. Aichi - 2:18:47
9. Hyogo - 2:19:12
10. Miyagi - 2:19:32
11. Nagano - 2:19:32
12. Nagasaki - 2:19:57

© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

TokyoRacer said…
Drury has a Canadian father and a Japanese mother. She has run a 2:45.84 1000m.
January 17, 2023 at 1:42 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Asian Games Preview - Entries, Timetable and Live Results

Back in Japan for the first time in 32 years and representing 60% of the world's population, with more athletes competing across all sports than at the Olympics, the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games are already underway. Athletics competition starts tomorrow and runs through Tuesday the 29th. Some of the biggest names on the entry list include: Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage (SRI) - men's javelin throw - 2026 World Ultimate Championships gold and 2026 Diamond League champion Haruka Kitaguchi (JPN) - women's javelin throw - 2026 World Ultimate Championships and 2024 Paris Olympics gold Birhanu Balew (BRN) - men's 5000 m/10000 m - 2026 Diamond League 5000 m champion Sanghyeok Woo (KOR) - men's high jump - 2025 Tokyo World Championships silver Hayato Katsuki (JPN) - men's marathon race walk - 2025 Tokyo World Championships bronze Abderrahman Samba (QAT) - men's 400 mH - 2025 Tokyo World Championships bronze Jiale Zhang (CHN) - women's hammer throw - 2025 Tokyo W...
Post a Comment
Read more

Endo, Nishikawa and Yamakawa Announce Corporate Team Changes

The SG Holdings men's corporate team announced on Oct. 1 that long-distance athletes Hyuga Endo and Yuichiro Nishikawa have joined its roster after leaving the Sumitomo Denko team. Endo, 28, won the Junior Olympics 3000 m while at Koriyama Nishi J.H.S. before going on to Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. where he was the the top Japanese placer in the 5000 m at the National High School Championships 2 years in a row. After graduating from Gakuho Ishikawa he joined the Sumitomo Denko team, winning the National Championships 5000 m in 2021. He won gold at the 2023 Asian Championships and represented Japan at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. "I will give everything I have as part of the team and work hard toward helping it win the New Year Ekiden," he said of his new environment. Of his personal goals he said, "I want to focus on the 5000 m and reach new levels to compete internationally." Nishikawa, 28, was a member of Tokai University 's winning teams at the H...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Athletes Provisionally Suspended After Positive Drug Tests at Asian Games

The International Testing Agency announced on Oct. 2 that provisional suspensions have been imposed on two athletes, Kazakhstan's Aiana Bolatbekkyzy in track and field, and Tajikistan's Issamjon Sharifov in tennis, after they tested positive for prohibited substances at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Aichi. Bolatbekkyzy, 19, tested positive for the steroid drostanolone in a sample collected during an in-competition test at the Games. A diuretic drug was found in the sample collected from Sharifov, 23. source article: https://www.sanspo.com/article/20261002-X4FJLT5MMZKFND6WXPOESAKETQ/ translated by Brett Larner
Post a Comment
Read more