Skip to main content

23-yr-old Yuki Nakamura Breaks Gold Coast Marathon Course Record


23-year-old Yuki Nakamura broke through to the upper levels of Japanese women's marathoning, taking over 6 minutes off her PB to win Australia's Gold Coast Marathon in a course record 2:24:22. Coming into the race with a best of only 2:30:31 from Nagoya in March, the night before the race Nakamura's coaching staff told JRN that her goal was to clear 2:26 and that she'd go with the lead group on 2:24 pace and see what she could do. Helped by a large group of men to break the wind, the pack of five soon shook down to just Nakamura, favorite Visiline Jepkesho of Kenya and 2:26 Ethiopian Sichala Kumeshi. Nakamura looked comfortable and under control, even like she was holding back, through the first 2/3 of the race. A move from Jepkesho before 30 km opened a 10 m gap between the two Africans and Nakamura, but Nakamura worked the small hill just after 31 km to catch back up and even go to the front.

From there Nakamura threw in a series of surges, first breaking Kumeshi and then Jepkesho. From before the 36.6 km turnaround she was on her own, and even though she had to fight a headwind over the last 5 km and a dark moment between 39 and 41 km, Nakamura dug deep to take 21 seconds off American Lindsay Flanagan's CR from two years ago, becoming the first Japanese woman to win the Gold Coast Marathon since Misato Horie in 2016.

Jepkesho tanked after getting dropped, with Kumeshi running her down for 2nd in a PB of 2:25:25 to Jepkesho's 2:26:17. The fastest Japanese woman in the race before it started, Rie Kawauchi was 9th in 2:36:57, with the last Japanese woman to make the top 3 at Gold Coast, Shiho Kaneshige, 13th in 2:43:50 after an emergency mid-race toilet stop, and Horie 22nd in 2:52:38.

The men's pace trio struggled to hit its target of 3:01/km for CR pace, managing more in the 3:02-03 range before all three stopped between 23 and 25 km. Ethiopian Belay Tilahun and Kenyans Timothy Kipkorir Kattam and Felix Kandie were still in the lead group at the point along with over a half dozen Japanese men. Naoki Aiba made the first move to break things up after the pacers stopped, and soon it was down to just him, the three Africans, and fellow 2:08 marathoners Kiyoshi Koga and Mizuki Higashi. Up to 35 km Higashi was the only one who didn't go to the front, but when the ekiden specialist Koga threw in a big surge coming up to the 36.6 km turnaround it immediately killed off Kandie and Higashi.

Koga opened a small lead, but at the turnaround point the others caught back up. Aiba dropped, and over the next 3 km it was a three-way race until Koga lost touch. Kattam did most of the leading from there, gesturing for Tilahun to pull up next to him in the last km. But in the same style seen in a lot of past years at Gold Coast, he kicked on the corner with 400 m to go and pulled away to win in 2:08:52, Tilahun falling 6 seconds back for 2nd in 2:08:58, a PB by almost 3 minutes. Koga faded to 3rd in 2:09:22, making it the first time since 2015 that a Japanese man hasn't made top 2 at Gold Coast.

Aiba and Kandie held on for 4th and 5th in 2:10:26 and 2:10:47, but Higashi was run down by Akihiro Kaneko for 6th, Kaneko getting under 2:11 for the first time with a new 2:10:58 PB. Expected to be the main Japanese contender, 2:07 man Yuta Koyama was 12th in 2:14:53. Post-race he told JRN, "I just felt like I was out of gas after about 27 or 28 km." 2013 winner Yuki Kawauchi was 145th among men and 157th overall in 2:42:23, the latest in a steep decline in his performances this year.

44th Gold Coast Marathon

Gold Coast, Australia, 7 July 2024

Women
1. Yuki Nakamura (Japan/Panasonic) - 2:24:22 - CR, PB
2. Sichala Kumeshi (Ethiopia) - 2:25:25 - PB
3. Visiline Jepkesho (Kenya) - 2:26:17
4. Irene Jerobon (Kenya) - 2:31:47
5. Sarah Klein (Australia) - 2:31:55
6. Abigail Nordberg (Australia) - 2:34:54 - debut
7. Milly Clark (Australia) - 2:36:44
8. Riine Ringi (Australia) - 2:36:51 - PB
9. Rie Kawauchi (Japan/Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:36:57
10. Ai Ikemoto (Japan/unattached) - 2:39:46
-----
13. Shiho Kaneshige (Japan/GRlab Yamaguchi) - 2:43:50
22. Misato Horie (Japan/Sysmex) - 2:52:38
35. Aoi Makara (Japan/unattached) - 2:58:30

Men
1. Timothy Kipkorir Kattam (Kenya) - 2:08:52
2. Belay Tilahun (Ethiopia) - 2:08:58 - PB
3. Kiyoshi Koga (Japan/Yasukawa Denki) - 2:09:22
4. Naoki Aiba (Japan/Chudenko) - 2:10:26
5. Felix Kandie (Kenya) - 2:10:47
6. Akihiro Kaneko (Japan/Comodi Iida) - 2:10:58 - PB
7. Mizuki Higashi (Japan/Aisan Kogyo) - 2:11:21
8. Liam Boudin (Australia) - 2:13:56 - debut
9. Kenji Yamamoto (Japan/Mazda) - 2:14:23
10. Keisuke Yokota (Japan/unattached) - 2:14:29
-----
12. Yuta Koyama (Japan/Toenec) - 2:14:53
15. Yudai Fukuda (Japan/unattached) - 2:15:56
16. Masaki Tsuda (Japan/Nishitetsu) - 2:16:05
17. Tomohiro Kaijo (Japan/unattached) - 2:16:44
20. Takemaru Yamasaki (Japan/unattached) - 2:19:11
21. Yuki Nakamura (Japan/Sumitomo Denko) - 2:20:22
23. Daiji Kawai (Japan/Toenec) - 2:20:51
25. Rintaro Takeda (Japan/Yakult) - 2:21:59
145. Yuki Kawauchi (Japan/ANDS) - 2:42:23

 © 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
Great race day commentary from yourself and the panel! Yuki Nakamura's run was a total surprise. Very pleased for her as this was a great break through performance. I was very worried with around 2km to go. Her cadence had slowed considerably but she dug deep and finished well. What an amazing PB, course record and victory! It's so difficult these days to get a victory in these big races so huge congratulations to her. Amazing!
July 8, 2024 at 5:52 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Koku Gakuin's Hirabayashi Holds Off Komazawa and Aoyama Gakuin in Anchor Stage Showdown at Izumo Ekiden

There was a lot of action at the 36th running of the Izumo Ekiden Monday in Shimane, but it really came down to an anchor stage showdown between three of the biggest names on the university men's collegiate circuit. For the first five legs it was mostly between two-time defending champ Komazawa University and the top four-ranked Ivy League Select Team , Aoyama Gakuin University , Koku Gakuin University and Soka University . All of them except the Ivy League alternate stages up front with the Ivies in the mix in 2nd thanks to excellent runs from its two lead-off runners Kieran Tuntivate and Will Battershill . AGU's Masaya Tsurukawa took the 8.0 km First Stage, Soka's Hibiki Yoshida put them into 1st on the 5.8 km Second Stage, AGU's Asahi Kuroda retook the lead on the 8.5 km Third Stage, Izumo native Aoi Ito put Komazawa out front on the 6.2 km Fourth Stage, and KGU's Ryuto Uehara went to the front on the 6.4 km Fifth Stage. That set up an incredible matchup
1 comment
Read more

101st Hakone Ekiden Qualifier Half Marathon Preview

Ekiden season rolls on, and for everyone who didn't make the top 10 at the Hakone Ekiden's 100th running this past January that means a trip to western Tokyo's Showa Linen Park this Saturday to line up on the runway of the air defense base next door to try to qualify for the 101st Hakone Ekiden . The 43 Tokyo-area universities at the Hakone Ekiden Qualifier Half Marathon , the Yosenkai, each run 10-12 athletes and are scored on the total times of their first 10 finishers. The 10 fastest teams go to Hakone, and the rest go home except for the 10 fastest individuals from non-qualifying universities, who get the privilege of running as part of a select team. NTV will broadcast the Yosenkai and its dramatic announcement ceremony live starting at 9:25 a.m. local time Saturday. If you've got a VPN you should be all set. If not, try mov3.co/ntv . JRN will be on-site at the Yosenkai to cover it live. Chuo University , Tokai University and Tokyo Kokusai University look sure
Post a Comment
Read more

Rikkyo University Wins Hot and Humid Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai Qualifying Race

With high humidity, mostly sunny skies and temps reported as high as 30˚ it was just too hot for fast times at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon qualifying race for January's 101st Hakone Ekiden. Individual winner and last year's 1:00:16 CR setter  Shadrack Kipkemei from Nihon University and runner-up Brian Kipyegon of Yamanashi Gakuin University lasting the whole way on sub-1:01 pace and going 1:00:59 and 1:01:02 was really exceptional given the weather, but you could see how tough it was given that only five people went under 1:02 and seven under 1:03 compared to 11 and 38 last year. Top Japanese finisher and 1:00:31 half marathoner Reishi Yoshida of Chuo Gakuin University was only 10th in 1:03:29 and collegiate record holder Richard Etir of Tokyo Kokusai University 11th in 1:03:35. But ultimately the Yosenkai is about team scoring based on the total times of each school's first ten finishers, so while the unseasonal summertime conditions held times b
1 comment
Read more