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
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
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DNF - Benard Kimani (Comodi Iida)
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