Kobayashi Breaks Hofu Yomiuri Marathon CR in 2:24:59

Yuya Yoshida winning Fukuoka in CR time was a great story, and here's another one. Kana Kobayashi didn't run track or ekidens in junior high, high school, or at Waseda University and just ran for fun, but after a 2:36:54 debut at last year's Osaka International Women's Marathon and a 2:29:44 PB there this year she got an offer from the Otsuka Seiyaku corporate team. After a good championship ekiden season she ran today's Hofu Yomiuri Marathon, and with a 5-minute PB she won in a CR 2:24:59.

It was an impressively even effort, 1:12:13 through halfway and breaking competition that included 2:22:29 runner Mao Uesugi and 2:23:05 runner Natsumi Matsushita. Her final margin of victory over Matsushita was almost 3 1/2 minutes, with Uesugi another 4 1/2 minutes further back. It's not quite the top level of the sport in Japan, but it for sure puts Kobayashi near the top of the list of rising talent.

The men's race went through halfway on CR pace, with last year's 3rd-placer Ryoma Takeuchi, Riki Nakanishi, Shoma Yamamoto and the debuting Shinta Miyazawa, coached by Olympian Arata Fujiwara, all together. Takeuchi was the first to drop, and just past 33 km Nakanishi pulled away to cruise on to win in 2:09:07. Yamamoto was 2nd in 2:09:59, with Miyazawa clocking 2:11:55 in his first time out and Takeuchi 4th in 2:12:34. Last year's winner Yuki Kawauchi was never a factor, 38th overall in 2:33:01, two minutes shy of his season best from April's Paris Marathon.

55th Hofu Yomiuri Marathon

Hofu, Yamaguchi, 1 Dec. 2024

complete results

Women

1. Kana Kobayashi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:24:59 - CR, PB

2. Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 2:28:16

3. Mao Uesugi (Tokyo Metro) - 2:32:48

4. Ayano Ikeuchi (Denso) - 2:37:52

5. Meari Obuchi (United) - 2:40:16

6. Ayumi Morita (Tokyo Metro) - 2:42:01

7. Mio Koyanagi (Osaka Nagai AC) - 2:48:40

8. Noriko Uchida (Oita T&F Assoc.) - 2:49:31

9. Sayaka Yasukawa (Awake) - 2:51:30

10. Miyuki Usui (unattached) - 2:52:18

Men

1. Riki Nakanishi (Toenec) - 2:09:07

2. Shoma Yamamoto (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 2:09:59

3. Shinta Miyazawa (Suzuki) - 2:11:55 - debut

4. Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) - 2:12:34

5. Tomoki Yasuda (Suzuki) - 2:14:07

6. Takeshi Nishida (Toyota) - 2:14:52

7. Hiromasa Kumahashi (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 2:14:55

8. Takuma Takemura (SG Holdings) - 2:15:23

9. Kota Sugiho (Suzuki) - 2:16:35

10. Maki Yamada (Asahi Kasei) - 2:16:41 - debut

11. Reo Kuniyuki (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:18:39

12. Daisuke Momozawa (Lycaons) - 2:18:44

13. Nao Kazami (Aisan Kogyo) - 2:18:56

14. Shota Saito (JFE Steel) - 2:19:22

15. Junpei Kato (Kumamoto T&F Assoc.) - 2:19:31 - PB

16. Yuki Nakamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:19:38

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38. Yuki Kawauchi (ANDS) - 2:33:01

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DNF - Joel Mwaura (Kenya/Kurosaki Harima)

Japan's First Goldless Day - Asian Athletics Championships Day Four Highlights

Day 4 of the Bangkok Asian Athletics Championships was the first without a single gold medal going to Japan, but there were still enough silvers and bronzes to go around. Robyn Lauren Brown of the Philippines outclassed the rest of the women's 400 mH final field, taking gold in 57.50. Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto made it a Japanese 2-3, Utsunomiya running 57.73 for silver and Yamamoto 57.80 for bronze. Yusaku Kodama also scored silver in the men's 400 mH, running 48.96 behind Qatari winner Bassem Hemeida 's 48.64. Yuki Yamasaki won bronze in the heptathlon with 5696 points, Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina taking gold in 6098 and Swapna Barman silver in 5840. Teammate Karin Odama was 4th in 5487. Another bronze came in the mixed 4x400 m relay, with Japan running 3:15.71 behind India's 3:14.70 and Sri Lanka's 3:15.41. Naoto Hasegawa and Ryoichi Akamatsu both cleared 2.23 m in the men's high jump, Hasegawa finishing 4th overall and Akamatsu 5th. ...

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