Nishi Leads Three New Olympic Trials Qualifiers at Nagano Marathon

The fastest Japanese man inside the qualifying window for October's MGC Race Olympic marathon trials not to have hit any of the qualifying criteria, Kento Nishi (Osaka Gas) got it done with a 2:10:01 win at the Nagano Marathon less than two months after his 2:08:11 PB at February's Osaka Marathon.

Nishi, Kensuke Horio (Kyudenko) and Kenji Yamamoto (Mazda) all needed to run in the mid-2:11 range to qualify via the two-race sub-2:10 average route, and when 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Michael Githae (Suzuki) took the race out on mid-2:10 pace it was exactly what they could have hoped for. Githae did all the work as others in range of qualifying like Reo Kuniyuki (Otsuka Seiyaku), Shogo Kanezane (Chugoku Denryoku) and Daisuke Hosomori (YKK) dropped off the lead pack. A surge from Horio after halfway cut the lead group down to just Githae, the three qualifying hopefuls, and Yamamoto's teammate Shun Sadakata (Mazda), and it stayed that way until Githae attacked with 5 km to go.

Nishi was the only one who could react, and instead of just tucking in he went even harder, dropping Githae and trying to dip under 2:10. Nishi went 6:35 from 40 km to the finish to take 1st in 2:10:01, the second-fastest winning time in Nagano history and more than enough to nail down his place at the trials. Githae was next in 2:10:35, with Horio and Yamamoto both joining Nishi in qualifying, Horio 3rd in 2:10:42 and Yamamoto 4th in 2:10:46. In his first time making it to the finish line in a marathon Sadakata took 5th in 2:10:57.

With only the Prague Marathon, Taiyuan Marathon and Ottawa Marathon remaining on the list of chances for people to qualify ahead of the May 31 deadline, Nishi, Horio and Yamamoto brought the qualifier total to 65 men and 29 women. It's not likely any more women will make the cut, but with 5 men scheduled to run Prague and 11 on the list in Ottawa the men's total could still hit 70.

Nagano didn't have an elite women's field this year, leaving it to club runner Haruna Takano (Pacer TC) to take the top spot in 2:42:44, a PB by more than 3 minutes. Chifumi Ito (Kazoku) was close behind the whole way but couldn't close the gap to Takano down, finishing 2nd in 2:43:01 in her debut. Also debuting, Saki Shimada (Shinshu Univ.) was further back in 3rd in 2:48:02. Takano's mark was the slowest winning time in the current version of the Nagano Marathon's 25-year history.

25th Nagano Marathon

Nagano, 23 Apr. 2023

complete results

Women

1. Haruna Takano (Pacer TC) - 2:42:44 - PB

2. Chifumi Ito (Kazoku) - 2:43:01 - debut

3. Saki Shimada (Shinshu Univ.) - 2:48:02 - debut

4. Kana Masuda - 2:48:50 - PB

5. Asami Morino - 2:48:54

6. Honoka Akiyama - 2:49:08 - PB

7. Hodaka Shimizu - 2:50:01 - PB

8. Seika Iwamura - 2:50:35

9. Yumiko Kinoshita - 2:52:51

10. Sayaka Yasukawa - 2:55:09

Men

1. Kento Nishi (Osaka Gas) - 2:10:01

2. Michael Githae (Suzuki) - 2:10:35

3. Kensuke Horio (Kyudenko) - 2:10:42

4. Kenji Yamamoto (Mazda) - 2:10:46

5. Shun Sadakata (Mazda) - 2:10:57 - PB

6. Masatoshi Teranishi (Mazda) - 2:13:53 - PB

7. Kenta Fukumura (Sunayama Shoji) - 2:14:45

8. Reo Kuniyuki (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:15:11

9. Kazuki Noda (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:18:15

10. Junichi Ushiyama (City Runner) - 2:18:23

-----

DNF - Benard Kimani (Comodi Iida)

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance? Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance. This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere. It was put into place in 1986. In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made. Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km. When a bicycle is u...

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...

japan running news

Search This Blog