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October's Olympic Marathon Trials To Pay Out ¥35,000,000 In Prize Money

With 100 days to go until the Oct. 15 MGC Race, Japan's marathon trials for the Paris Olympics, the JAAF held a press conference July 7 to announce a range of information about the race. The winners of the women's and men's races this time will each receive ¥10,000,000 [~$70,000 USD at the dismal current exchange rate], with 2nd place earning ¥5,000,000 [~$35,000 USD] and 3rd place ¥2,500,000 [~$17,500 USD].

The top two finishers at the MGC Race will earn places on the 2024 Paris Olympics marathon team. The 3rd placer will be provisionally named to the team, but other athletes will have the chance to steal that spot if they break 2:05:50 for men or 2:21:41 for women at one of the major domestic marathons in the upcoming winter season.

65 men and 27 women are entered in the MGC Race. The race starts and finishes at the National Stadium in Tokyo.

Translator's note: At the first MGC Race before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics there was no prize money, leading 3rd-place man Suguru Osako to criticize the JAAF and event publicly for cutting athletes out of a share of the income from the massively popular TV broadcast.


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