Skip to main content

Osaka Women's Marathon and Osaka Half Preview and Streaming


Fresh off the announcement of the Tokyo Marathon elite field yesterday, Japan's first major marathon of the year takes place Sunday with the Osaka International Women's Marathon. Fuji TV will broadcast it live starting at noon local time, with streaming on TVer.

With a reworked course that's hillier but which organizers hope will somehow still be faster, Osaka Women's is positioned for a 2:20 race with three women, Kenya's Maurine Chepkemoi and Ethiopians Haven Haile Desse and Sisay Meseret Gola at that level. The top tier of Japanese women, Sayaka Sato, Yuka Ando and Mao Uesugi, all ran 2:22 last year, so it'll be a jump up for them to stay with the front group. There's also a high-potential debut from 1:09:14 half marathoner Sakiho Tsutsui, who so far has looked to be stronger as the distance increases.

Sato, Ando and Uesugi have all already qualified for October's Olympic marathon trials, so their being in the race raises the bar for anyone else trying to qualify. The first 3 Japanese finishers under 2:28:00 qualify, as will the next 3 beyond that if they go under 2:27:00, or under 2:24:00 for anyone beyond the top 6 Japanese. Along with Tsutsui, people in the group looking to qualify include collegiate marathon NR holder Sairi Maeda, 2:26:50 runner Chiharu Ikeda, and debuting 1:10 half marathon duo Yumi Yoshikawa and Yuna Daito. With another option to qualify via a two-race 2:28:00 option, Ikeda will only need to run 2:29:10 to make it. Internationals Risper Gesabwa, Munkhzaya Bayartsogt and Alice Wright are all in the 2:26~2:29 range and should be in with the 2nd Japanese group.

Simultaneous with the marathon is the Osaka Half Marathon, which has grown to be a major addition to the early year calendar coming just before the Marugame Half and National Corporate Half. Streaming on Youtube starts at 12:10 p.m. local time. The women's race is fronted by Japan-based Ethiopian duo Zeyituna Husan and Desta Burka, with top domestic competition coming from Kaede Kawamura, Shuri Ogasawara and Mirai Waku.

The men's race has sub-61 runners Patrick Mathenge Wambui and Yohei Ikeda up front, followed by another 18 sub-62 men. Most notable among those is probably Yamanashi Gakuin University's Boniface Mulwa, CR breaker at November's Ageo City Half Marathon. Sweden's David Nilsson is also back after finishing 8th in Osaka in 2020 just before the pandemic.

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)
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)
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)

Osaka Half Marathon

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

Women
Zeyituna Husan (Denso) - 1:09:24 (Sanyo 2020)
Desta Burka (Denso) - 1:09:31 (Sanyo 2021)
Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:10:17 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Shuri Ogasawara (Denso) - 1:10:25 (Sanyo 2020)
Mirai Waku (Univ. Ent.) - 1:10:26 (Sanyo 2020)
Yukina Ueda (Daihatsu) - 1:10:49 (Osaka 2020)
Wuga He (China) - 1:10:54 (Philadelphia 2022)
Hanae Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) - 1:11:08 (Sanyo 2021)
Hina Yanagitani (Wacoal) - 1:11:26 (Osaka 2022)
Rui Aoyama (Univ. Ent.) - 1:11:36 (Marugame 2020)

Men
Patrick Mathenge Wambui (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 1:00:12 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2021)
Yohei Ikeda (Kao) - 1:00:59 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Shohei Otsuka (Kyudenko) - 1:01:09 (Marugame 2020)
Simon Kariuki (Togami Denki) - 1:01:11 (Olympic Test Event 2021)
Boniface Mulwa (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:17 (Ageo 2022)
Akira Tomiyasu (Aisan Kogyo) - 1:01:23 (Osaka 2022)
Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:01:25 (Osaka 2022)
Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 1:01:26 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Takumi Kiyotani (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:01:27 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Daisuke Uekado (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:01:37 (Marugame 2020)
David Nilsson (Sweden) - 1:01:40 (World Half 2020)
Keita Sakamoto (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:42 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Joseph Nganga Waweru (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:01:44 (Osaka 2022)
Ryo Kuchimachi (Subaru) - 1:01:46 (Osaka 2022)
Tatsuya Sumide (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:46 (Osaka 2022)
James Mwanzia Mutuku (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:49 (Shibetsu 2022)
Daisuke Momozawa (Sunbelx) - 1:01:50 (Houston 2020)
Hiroyuki Ishikawa (Aisan Kogyo) - 1:01:55 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Teruya Wada (Nishitetsu) - 1:01:57 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Kenji Yamamoto (Mazda) - 1:01:58 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)

© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
Can Sairi Maeda qualify for MGC again? I hope she does. It would be great to see it. And I'm interested to see how the already qualified runners do here. Sayaka Sato said she will run with the leading pack this time. I wonder how long she can stay with them. She tends to fade but made an improvement in Berlin (still faded though). Hopefully, she improves again. Can she or the others get PBs? It would be great to see a new face make an impact. Perhaps one of the debutants can surprise. I'll be tuning in to watch.
January 27, 2023 at 5:41 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

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...
3 comments
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
1 comment
Read more