Olympic Trials Hopefuls Come Up Empty Handed at Ottawa Marathon

With the deadline for qualification for the Oct. 15 MGC Race Olympic marathon trials coming right up, at Sunday's Tartan Ottawa International Marathon eleven Japanese men took a last shot at joining the 67 men and 29 women to have already qualified. Depending on how fast they had already run inside the qualifying window each of the eleven had an individual qualifying standard to run, ranging from 2:08:00 to 2:11:30. But with the difficulties of doubling after having already raced in February or March, long international travel, and hot conditions in the last half hour of the race, none succeeded in hitting their qualifying mark.

Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Soft) and Ryo Osaki (Komori Corp.), who both ran 2:08 earlier this year and needed to run in the 2:11 range to make it, and 2:10 runner Chihiro Ono (GMO) lasted the longest, Takeuchi still on track at 35 km and Osaki and Ono right on the cusp at 30 km. But like winner Yihunilign Adane (Ethiopia), who dropped from 2:06 pace at 30 km to 2:08:23 for the win, all slowed. Takeuchi took the top Japanese spot at 7th in 2:14:04, 3:01 off what he needed to qualify. Bottom-ranked Japanese man Taiki Suzuki (Eldoreso) was next in 2:16:10 for 10th, 29 seconds ahead of the Japanese man with the fastest PB in the field, Kento Otsu (Sunbelx). Junnosuke Matsuo (NTT Nishi Nihon) was another 58 seconds behind Otsu in 12th.

Ono dropped to 17th overall in 2:19:02, Osaki fading even harder to 20th in 2:20:04 a step ahead of Akihiro Kaneko Comodi Iida). Kaneko's teammate Keisuke Yokota, who had come down with a mild fever the day before the race, dropped out at 20 km, while Mizuki Higashi (Aisan Kogyo), who likewise came down with a fever post-race, dropped out after 30 km. Hiroto Kanamori (Komori Corp.) and Tatsunori Hamasaki (Nanji AC) both managed to tough it out and finish but were run down by women's winner Waganesh Mekasha (Ethiopia) and both the 2nd and 3rd-place women.

Six of the men belonged to four teams, Komori Corporation, Sunbelx, Comodi Iida and ND Soft, that have not qualified any men for the MGC Race. Qualification in Ottawa would have guaranteed any of the six men's team's place at the New Year Ekiden in January, but having missed it means that all four teams will have to dedicate the summer and early fall to preparing for the early-November East Japan Corporate Ekiden regional New Year Ekiden qualifying race. "It makes an enormous difference," said ND Soft head coach Kiyohiro Watanabe. "We have to focus our entire summer training on East Japan."

But even though all missed their goals, all eleven Japanese men in Ottawa were satisfied with having taken a serious final shot at making the hardest marathon in the world to get into. "I'm disappointed that I didn't make it," said Takeuchi. "But I know that I couldn't have run any better today than I did. Hopefully I can learn from this and apply it to my races still to come."

Tartan Ottawa International Marathon

Ottawa, Canada, 28 May 2023

Men

1. Yihunilign Adane (Ethiopia) - 2:08:23

2. Gebretsadik Abraha (Ethiopia) - 2:09:14

3. Abdi Ali Gelchu (Ethiopia) - 2:10:39

4. Aychew Bantie (Ethiopia) - 2:13:12

5. Parker Stinson (U.S.A.) - 2:13:58

6. Felix Kibitok (Kenya) - 2:14:03

7. Ryoma Takeuchi (Japan/ND Soft) - 2:14:04

8. Daniel Mesfun (U.S.A.) - 2:14:30

9. Sydney Gidabuday (U.S.A.) - 2:14:48

10. Taiki Suzuki (Japan/Eldoreso) - 2:16:10

-----

11. Kento Otsu (Japan/Sunbelx) - 2:16:39

12. Junnosuke Matsuo (Japan/NTT Nishi Nihon) - 2:17:37

17. Chihiro Ono (Japan/GMO) - 2:19:02

20. Ryo Osaki (Japan/Komori Corp.) - 2:20:04

21. Akihiro Kaneko (Japan/Comodi Iida) - 2:20:05

27. Hiroto Kanamori (Japan/Komori Corp.) - 2:27:52

30. Tatsunori Hamasaki (Japan/Nanji AC) - 2:29:48

-----

DNF - Gadisa Shumie (Ethiopia)

DNF - Keisuke Yokota (Japan/Comodi Iida)

DNF - Mizuki Higashi (Japan/Aisan Kogyo)

Women

1. Waganesh Mekasha (Ethiopia) - 2:24:48

2. Malindi Elmore (Canada) - 2:27:45

3. Melat Kejeta (Germany) - 2:27:51

4. Aberu Ayana Mulisa (Ethiopia) - 2:30:58

5. Jacqueline Gaughan (U.S.A.) - 2:31:38

6. Ayantu Kumela (Ethiopia) - 2:33:37

7. Sarah Pagano (U.S.A.) - 2:33:53

8. Alyssa McElheny (U.S.A.) - 2:37:31

9. Tammy Hsieh (U.S.A.) - 2:37:44

10. Alexandra Hynes (Canada) - 2:46:43

National University Championships Entry Lists and Streaming

The 95th National University Track and Field Championships run Friday through Monday at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. The complete meet schedule and live results are here . The 10000 m races were already held separately earlier this season. Streaming starts at 9:00 a.m. Saturday Japan time, with separate field event channels and Day 2 and 3 streaming here . Top entries in each event with best performance in the qualifying window: Men 100 m Shoma Yamamoto (Hiroshima Univ.) - 10.04 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.07 Naoki Nishioka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 10.09 Riku Oishi (Toyo Univ.) - 10.13 Kaito Kuroki (Chuo Univ.) - 10.14 Ryunosuke Mizuno (Waseda Univ.) - 10.14 Yugo Haitamataira (Juntendo Univ.) - 10.17 Shun Miyashita (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.19 200 m Akira Hayashi (Keio Univ.) - 20.36 Tomoru Funaki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 20.39 Oma Asai (Tsukuba Univ.) - 20.47 Reishin Yamamoto (Toyo Univ.) - 20.49 Shingo Suzuki (Tokai Univ.) - 20.54 Haruto Nakamura (Fukuoka Univ.) - 20.55 400 m Shinya Hayashi...

Yuasa and Niiya Win Hokkaido Marathon, 6 Qualify for Olympic Trials

Six more people picked up qualifying spots for next year's MGC Race at yesterday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, guaranteeing themselves places at Japan's 2028 Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials. In the men's race, Hibiki Yoshida tried to break away from the massive lead group at 30 km, opening a 25-second lead between there and 35 km before getting cut down by the chase trio of Jin Yuasa , Ken Tansho and Masato Arao . All three stayed together until the very end, Yuasa showing the same kind of closing speed he had in winning 2025 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon and pulling away to win in 2:10:46. The debuting Tansho was next in 2:10:55, with Arao, 6th at last year's Sydney Marathon in an excellent 2:07:42, 3rd here in 2:10:59. By clearing 2:12:00 all three picked up MGC qualifying spots, freeing them up to go overseas next spring. Continuing a great season, Soka University 's Shoki Yamaguchi was 4th in 2:11:47, missing out on trials qualification but bea...

Monterey Welcomes Student-Athletes from Sister City Nanao, Japan

a press release by the Monterey-Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project photos here Fourteen student-athletes from Nanao High School in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, recently completed a weeklong visit to the Monterey Peninsula as part of the Monterey–Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project , bringing together young people from the two Sister Cities through running, education, environmental stewardship, cultural exchange, and friendship. The seven boys and seven girls from Nanao were paired with 14 members of the Monterey High School cross country team and stayed in their homes throughout the visit. The week marked the first half of a reciprocal exchange that will continue when the Monterey students travel to Nanao later this year. The visitors received their first introduction to Monterey shortly after arriving at Monterey High School, walking with their hosts to Sister City Park and gathering for photographs beside the sign honoring Nanao — a fitting beginning for a week devoted to bringin...

japan running news

Search This Blog