Skip to main content

Osaka Marathon Elite Field (updated)


Four of last year's top five women will be back at the Osaka Marathon, with 2023 winner and CR breaker Helen Tola Bekele returning to face runner-up Beyenu Degefa, Lisa Weightman, and new additions Fancy Chemutai, 2:18:11 in Valencia 2022, and Viola Jelgata Kibiwot, 2:22:57 in Frankfurt last fall. Misaki Ichida was the 2nd Japanese woman last year in 2:25:51 for 5th, and she's the top-ranked domestic name this year at 8th in the field.

You wouldn't know Osaka is the third of four big men's marathons in Japan in the course of four months, as 49 sub-2:10 men are entered. It's a completely different field from last year, with the top returning runner being Shohei Otsuka, 8th last year in 2:06:57. Japanese men have to run 2:05:50 to have a chance of taking the third Olympic team spot away from Suguru Osako, and top three-ranked Stephen Kissa, Adeladlew Mamo and Yihunilign Adane are all positioned from 2:04:48 to 2:05:53 to help enable that.

Realistically, everyone who could do it is probably in Tokyo a week later. Hidekazu Hijikata and Hiroto Inoue have both run 2:06 along with Otsuka, but 2:05 is a jump for all of them. Likewise for Paris Olympic marathon trials winner Naoki Koyama, 2:07:40 in his win at last year's Gold Coast Marathon. It's more likely we'll see a dozen or so 2:07 performances from them and the next tier down.

But last year Osaka saw a pair of 2:06 debuts from Kazuya Nishiyama and Yohei Ikeda, and this year the best shot at 2:05:50 may come from a first-timer too. Aoi Ota ran the equivalent of a 58:57 half marathon on his stage at the Hakone Ekiden last month to help Aoyama Gakuin University win. His coach Susumu Hara predicted he'd run a 2:04 marathon debut off that, and once he thought about that bit more pulled Ota from his planned debut in Beppu-Oita this past weekend to put him in Osaka.

If the 58:57 were for real it'd suggest 2:03 is possible, so 2:05:50 seems realistic. That would raise the bar for everyone hoping to score the third Olympic spot in Tokyo the same way Honami Maeda's 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon did for Nagoya. And Ota isn't the only high-potential debut. Keijiro Mogi has a 1:00:33 half marathon to his name, and Kiyoto Hirabayashi ran the equivalent of 1:00:41 on a tougher stage than Ota's at Hakone.

Further back, Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir will try to seal up his record sixth Olympic marathon with a good enough run to get near the top of the quota. He may lose the NR en route, though, as rival Olonbayar Jamsran is back after missing record by 8 seconds in Osaka last year.

Osaka Marathon Elite Field Highlights

Osaka, 25 Feb. 2024
times listed are athletes' best in last 3 years except where noted

Women
Fancy Chemutai (Kenya) - 2:18:11 (Valencia 2022)
Helen Tola Bekele (Ethiopia) - 2:19:44 (Berlin 2023)
Viola Jelagat Kibiwot (Kenya) - 2:22:57 (Frankfurt 2023)
Beyenu Degefa (Ethiopia) - 2:23:04 (Valencia 2021)
Waganesh Mekasha (Ethiopia) - 2:23:12 (Toronto 2023)
Lisa Weightman (Australia) - 2:23:15 (Osaka 2023)
Eloise Wellings (Australia) - 2:25:10 (Nagoya 2022)
Misaki Ichida (Japan) - 2:25:51 (Osaka 2023)
Ellie Pashley (Australia) - 2:29:37 (London 2023)
Saki Fukui (Japan) - 2:30:31 (Nagoya 2021) - DNS
Dayna Pidhoresky (Canada) - 2:30:58 (Toronto 2022)
Kaede Kawamura (Japan) - debut - 1:10:17 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Seika Ogata (Japan) - debut - 1:12:02 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)

Men
Stephen Kissa (Uganda) - 2:04:48 (Hamburg 2022)
Adeladlew Mamo (Ethiopia) - 2:05:12 (Seville 2022)
Yihunilign Adane (Ethiopia) - 2:05:53 (Barcelona 2022) - DNS
Hidekazu Hijikata (Japan) - 2:06:26 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Kipkemoi Kiprono (Kenya) - 2:06:45 (Barcelona 2021)
Hiroto Inoue (Japan) - 2:06:47 (Lake Biwa 2021) - DNS
Kemal Husen (Ethiopia) - 2:06:52 (Dublin 2023)
Shohei Otsuka (Japan) - 2:06:57 (Osaka 2023)
Vincent Raimoi (Kenya) - 2:07:01 (Fukuoka Int'l 202)
Iliass Aouani (Italy) - 2:07:16 (Barcelona 2023)
Kento Kikutani (Japan) - 2:07:26 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Yuki Kawauchi (Japan) - 2:07:27 (Lake Biwa 2021) - DNS
Koki Yoshioka (Japan) - 2:07:28 (Osaka 2023)
Kazuki Muramoto (Japan) - 2:07:36 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Naoki Koyama (Japan) - 2:07:40 (Gold Coast 2023)
Masaru Aoki (Japan) - 2:07:40 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Tsubasa Ichiyama (Japan) - 2:07:41 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Tatsuya Maruyama (Japan) - 2:07:50 (Berlin 2022)
Atsumi Ashiwa (Japan) - 2:07:54 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Daisuke Doi (Japan) - 2:07:55 (Osaka 2023)
Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Japan) - 2:07:55 (Beppu-Oita 2022)
Naoki Okamoto (Japan) - 2:08:04 (Osaka 2022)
Ryu Takaku (Japan) - 2:08:05 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Peiyou Feng (China) - 2:08:07 (Fukuoka Int'l 2023)
Kento Nishi (Japan) - 2:08:11 (Osaka 2023)
Daisuke Hosomori (Japan) - 2:08:28 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Daiji Kawai (Japan) - 2:08:31 (Tokyo 2022)
Kiyohito Akiyama (Japan) - 2:08:43 (Fukuoka Int'l 2022) - DNS
Naoki Aiba (Japan) - 2:08:44 (Beppu-Oita 2022)
Rintaro Takeda (Japan) - 2:08:48 (Osaka 2022)
Riki Nakanishi (Japan) - 2:08:51 (Beppu-Oita 2022)
Shoma Yamamoto (Japan) - 2:08:52 (Hofu 2022)
Guojian Dong (China) - 2:08:53 (Chicago 2022)
Olonbayar Jamsran (Mongolia) - 2:08:58 (Osaka 2023)
Yuki Matsumura (Japan) - 2:09:01 (Lake Biwa 2021) - DNS
Kohei Futaoka (Japan) - 2:09:14 (Fukuoka Int'l 2021)
Madoka Tanihara (Japan) - 2:09:15 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Shoma Hosoya (Japan) - 2:09:18 (Tokyo 2022)
Yuya Yoshida (Japan) - 2:09:20 (Tokyo 2022)
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia) - 2:09:26 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Kei Katanishi (Japan) - 2:09:27 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Yuki Takamiya (Japan) - 2:09:30 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Tadashi Isshiki (Japan) - 2:09:32 (Osaka 2022)
Takayuki Iida (Japan) - 2:09:34 (Prague 2023)
Takahiro Nakamura (Japan) - 2:09:40 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Junnosuke Matsuo (Japan) - 2:09:48 (Tokyo 2022)
Tebello Ramakongoana (Lesotho) - 2:09:57 (Budapest WC 2023)
Masashi Nonaka (Japan) - 2:09:57 (Osaka 2022)
Koshiro Hirata (Japan) - 2:09:57 (Osaka 2022)
Xiangdong Wu (China) - 2:10:02 (Beijing 2023)
Gantulga Dambadarjaa (Mongolia) - 2:11:18 (Seoul 2022)
Thomas Do Canto (Australia) - 2:11:51 (Valencia 2023)
Shogo Nakamura (Japan) - 2:12:10 (Tokyo 2023)
Aoi Ota (Japan) - debut - 58:57 (Hakone Ekiden 2024) - DNS
Keijiro Mogi (Japan) - debut - 1:00:33 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2023)
Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Japan) - debut - 1:00:41 (Hakone Ekiden 2024)
Ken Yokote (Japan) - debut - 1:01:18 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Homare Morita (Japan) - debut - 1:01:28 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Takuya Kitasaki (Japan) - debut - 1:01:48 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Daisuke Higuchi (Japan) - debut - 1:01:59 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)

© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

j said…
The depth is absolutely incredible. Yes the bigger names may be in Tokyo, but there are twice as many corporate mens runners in this field than in Tokyo (something in the range of 55 in Tokyo and 100+ in Osaka). Two of my dark horses to watch are Ken Nakayama (Honda, 2:19 best) and Yuta Nakayama (JR, 2:26 best), who both blew up in their debuts. Both should be in great shape having been 3rd and 5th in on the 2nd stage at New Years Ekiden. Yuta would be a great underdog story to root for as a small college guy. Lake Biwa used to be known for guys like this who would instantly improve to sub 2:10, I think these two are the next in line.
February 7, 2024 at 8:45 AM
Brett Larner said…
Ken’s a great guy from outside the usual mold and has a lot of talent if he could just avoid getting injured. Would love to see him have a good one.
February 7, 2024 at 12:36 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
8 comments
Read more

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...
1 comment
Read more

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...
2 comments
Read more