Back where she'd run her best in 2017 only to finish 2nd behind Kenyan-born Bahraini doper Eunice Kirwa, Yuka Ando ran down another Kenyan-born Bahraini named Eunice, in this case 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games gold medalist Eunice Chebichii Chumba, to win the Nagoya Women's Marathon in a 2:21:18 PB.
Ando and the other top Japanese women in the race, Ayuko Suzuki and Rika Kaseda, had the hopeless task of running a 2:18:58 to make the Paris Olympics team, almost 3 minutes faster than any of them had run before. Hopeless, but not to say they didn't take a serious swing at it. The first 5 km was perfect, 16:28 projecting to exactly 2:18:58, but after that the quartet of pacers struggled to keep things steady. By 13 km pacers Charlotte Purdue and Judith Korir had dropped out of the lead pack, leaving the other two to try to keep it together. At halfway it was down to the three Japanese favorites, Chumba, Oregon World Championships gold medalist Gotytom Gebreslase and Romanian Kenyan Delvine Relin Meringor in 1:09:56, and a faster 5km from 20 to 25 km shook Meringor off the back.
Surges for position at the 25 km drink table put some separation between the five remaining leaders, and that's where the action began. With 2:17:29 marathoner Sheila Chepkirui still leading them Gotytom and Chumba pulled away, their projected finish ticking toward 2:19-flat. Ando and Kaseda stayed in pursuit, leaving Suzuki alone in back. By 30 km Gotytom and Chumba were 30 seconds up on Ando and Kaseda, who had 10 seconds on Suzuki. Nearing 35 km Ando dropped Kaseda and started to close on the two leaders, and just as it looked like she was in range Gotytom suddenly stopped and pulled off the course. As Ando, then Kaseda, then Suzuki went by Gotytom stretched her left leg and made a few attempts to get going again, but within just a few m she was out for good.
With less than 5 km to go everything started contracting, Ando making contact with Chumba at almost the exact same time that Suzuki passed Kaseda, the gap between the two pairs also shrinking. It came down to the last 800 m for Ando to make her final move, kicking away from Chumba for the win in 2:21:18, 18 seconds better than in her runner-up finish 7 years ago. Chumba was next in 2:21:25, Suzuki taking 3rd in a PB 2:21:33 despite falling flat on her face with 100m to go, and Kaseda 4th just off her best in 2:22:11.
Japanese women originally had to run 2:21:41 or better to score the third spot on the Paris team, before Honami Maeda raised the bar to 2:18:58 with her NR in Osaka in January. Both Ando and Suzuki cleared that original mark, no small task. "Thank you to everyone who helped me get here and run my best," Ando said post-race. "I may not be going to Paris, but I got the win here. I'm happy."
Coming up from the second pack, Yuyu Xia ran a PB 2:25:45 to become the fourth Chinese woman to get the 2:26:50 Olympic standard. That was enough to put her at 2nd-fastest among them, the 3rd-fastest Zhixuan Li finishing 11th in 2:28:49 after getting the standard in Nagoya last year in 2:26:28. Li Bai was bumped to 4th with a 2:26:33 in Wuxi last year, but with almost two months still to go to the deadline it's still up in the air who will make it onto the Chinese team.
But with Nagoya the Paris Olympics Japanese marathon teams is set. Trials winner Yuka Suzuki, 2:24:09, 2nd-placer Mao Ichiyama, 2:20:29, and NR holder Honami Maeda, 2:18:59, will join men's team Naoki Koyama, 2:06:33, Akira Akasaki, 2:09:01 and Suguru Osako, 2:05:29, in representing Japan come August.
Nagoya Women's Marathon
Nagoya, Aichi, 10 March 2024
1. Yuka Ando (Japan/Wacoal) - 2:21:18 - PB
2. Eunice Chebichii Chumba (Bahrain) - 2:21:25
3. Ayuko Suzuki (Japan/Japan Post) - 2:21:33 - PB
4. Rika Kaseda (Japan/Daihatsu) - 2:22:11
5. Yuyu Xia (China) - 2:25:45 - PB
6. Delvine Relin Meringor (Romania) - 2:26:09
7. Hikari Onishi (Japan/Japan Post) - 2:26:12
8. Natsuki Omori (Japan/Daihatsu) - 2:26:54
9. Camille French (New Zealand) - 2:28:23
10. Giovanna Epis (Italy) - 2:28:24
11. Zhixuan Li (China) - 2:28:49
12. Akino Asahina (Japan/Senko) - 2:28:59 - debut
13. Yuri Mitsune (Japan/18 Ginko) - 2:29:49 - PB
14. Yuki Nakamura (Japan/Panasonic) - 2:30:31 - debut
15. Momoko Watanabe (Japan/Tenmaya) - 2:30:43
16. Kaena Takeyama (Japan/Senko) - 2:31:52
17. Honoka Tanaike (Japan/Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:32:11
18. Yukari Nagatomo (Japan/Memolead) - 2:33:46 - debut
19. Yuri Karasawa (Japan/Kyudenko) - 2:36:55
20. Jingfen Li (China) - 2:38:19
21. Rosie Weber (Australia) - 2:38:47 - PB
22. Beverley Ramos (Puerto Rico) - 2:39:11
23. Debbie Donald (New Zealand) - 2:40:39 - PB
24. Mai Fujisawa (Japan/Sapporo Excel AC) - 2:41:46
25. Tomomi Sawahata (Japan/Saitama T&F Assoc.) - 2:44:34
26. Fuuka Hirokawa (Japan/OBRS) - 2:45:27
27. Yukari Seimiya (Japan/Kofu T&F Assoc.) - 2:46:33
28. Lexy Gilmour (Australia) - 2:47:24 - debut
29. Yuki Koga (Japan/Shonai RT) - 2:47:31 - PB
30. Izumi Onodera (Japan/Chiba T&F Assoc.) - 2:48:26 - PB
31. Yuko Kikuchi (Japan/Shimamura) - 2:49:00
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DNF - Violah Cheptoo (Kenya)
DNF - Gotytom Gebreslase (Ethiopia)
DNF - Eloise Wellings (Australia)
© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments
Very happy for Yuka Ando to post a victory and achieve a PB. It must be a bitter sweet feeling to win but miss out on Olympic selection.
Since 2020, Yuka Ando and Mizuki Matsuda have been the most consistent high performers in marathons with their times around the 2:21-2:22 range. It was satisfying to see her rewarded with a victory here but I think this is her ceiling and sub 2:20 is a bridge too far not to mention sub 2:18.59! It's good to see how Honami Maeda's new National Record has driven not only Yuka Ando but also Ayuko Suzuki and Rika Kaseda to either a PB or very fast personal time.
By the way, great sportsmanship by Rika Kaseda to speed up to hand her drink bottle to Ayuko Suzuki at the 10k drink station when she missed her own bottle and made 2 failed attempts to get cups of water.
I totally missed Ayuko Suzuki falling down. I just caught it now when re-watching the finish. Glad she still got her PB. She has a fighting spirit. It would have been easy for her to have switched off when she lost contact with Ando and Kaseda not long after 25k and coasted to a 2:24 or slower time but she raced till the very end.
4 years on, this MGC format proved very exciting once again.