At a press conference in Tokyo on Feb. 9 the JAAF revealed the course for the Oct. 15 Marathon Grand Championship race (MGC), Japan's marathon trials for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Starting at finishing in Tokyo's Olympic Stadium, with six 180˚ turns it's a challenging course with downhill in the first 5 km, a flattish middle 30 km, and then a climb back up to the stadium in the last 5 km. Most of its course mirrors that of the 2020 Olympics edition of the MGC Race, with the middle part of that course compressed into two laps of a segment between Ueno and Ginza.
JAAF Road Running Commission Leader Toshihiko Seko commented, "I think there are athletes who will make their move on the climb over the last 5 km. It's hard to go back into a higher gear after your pace drops at a 180˚ turnaround, but fans will get a lot of chances to cheer for the runners. In that way it's a course we can all say thanks for. I think the athletes are going to be inspired."
Sitting in as a representative of all the other qualified athletes, Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) said, "Besides the turnarounds there are a lot of curves, so I think it's going to be pretty tiring on the legs. I'll have to be careful. I'm going to take it one step at a time in my training and racing from now until Oct. 15 so that I'm there in great shape."
48 men and 26 women have qualified for the MGC Race so far. At the race the top 2 men and top 2 women will be named to the 2024 Paris Olympics team. The remaining member of each squad will be determined through the MGC Final Challenge, a series made up of Japan's major domestic marathons in the winter of 2023-24.
translated and edited by Brett Larner
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