Skip to main content

Osaka International Women's Marathon and Osaka Half Marathon Elite Fields


The elite field for the Jan. 26 Osaka International Women's Marathon is out, and it's a really short list, especially given Osaka International's World Athletics platinum label status. There's last year's winner Workenesh Edesa, 3rd-placer Mizuki Matsuda, 7th-placer Natsumi Matsushita, 9th-placer Madoka Nakano and 12th-placer Kana Kobayashi, top Japanese Paris Olympic marathon placer Yuka Suzuki, veteran Kenyan-born Israeli Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, the debuting Nanaka Izawa, and that's about it.

Workenesh outran Honami Maeda last year, both going under 2:19 and Workenesh getting the win in 2:18:51. She has to be viewed as the favorite. Salpeter has run as fast as 2:17:45 before, but she hasn't run under 2:25 in the marathon or under 1:10 in the half marathon since 2022, so there's not much reason to think she's going to be competitive in a faster race here. Matsuda and Suzuki both ran PBs in their last marathons, Matsuda a 2:20:42 in Berlin this fall and Suzuki a 2:24:02 while finishing 6th in the Paris Olympics. Kobayashi and Izawa are interesting, Kobayashi having run 2:29:44 last year as a non-track team student at Waseda University and then winning Hofu at the beginning of December in a 2:24:59 CR, and Izawa fresh off a great 1:08:25 PB at the Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon this month.

The Osaka Half Marathon is also happening in parallel with the marathon, and the fields there are decently competitive as always. Yuka Ando won the women's race in Osaka last year in a 1:08:18 PB and is back this time, facing sub-70 runner Sakiho Tsutsui, Mongolian NR holder Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh and more. 1:00:41 Ethiopian Gebrie Erikhun leads a domestic men's field that includes Japan-based Patrick Mathenge Wambui and a million 61-minute Japanese men.

44th Osaka International Women's Marathon

Elite Field Highlights
Osaka, 26 Jan. 2025
times listed are athletes' best in last 3 years except where noted

Lonah Chemtai Salpeter (Israel) - 2:18:45 (Nagoya 2022)
Workenesh Edesa (Ethiopia) - 2:18:51 (Osaka Women's 2024)
Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) - 2:20:42 (Berlin 2024)
Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 2:23:05 (Osaka Women's 2022)
Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) - 2:24:02 (Paris Olympics 2024)
Kana Kobayashi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:24:59 (Hofu 2024)
Yumi Yoshikawa (Chiba T&F Assoc.) - 2:25:20 (Osaka Women's 2023)
Chiharu Suzuki (Hitachi) - 2:25:59 (Osaka Women's 2023)
Madoka Nakano (Iwatani Sangyo) - 2:26:50 (Osaka Women's 2024)
Mao Kiyota (Suzuki) - 2:29:20 (Nagoya 2023)
Ayano Ikeuchi (Denso) - 2:32:26 (Seoul 2024)
Ayano Ikemitsu (Kagoshima Ginko) - 2:33:29 (Nagoya 2023)

Debut
Nanaka Izawa (Starts) - 1:08:25 (Sanyo Half 2024)
Rio Einaga (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 1:11:03 (National University Half 2023)
Kurumi Yoda (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 1:12:46 (Kansai University Half 2024)
Nanako Miwa (Kansai Gaikokugo Univ.) - 1:14:37 (Kansai University Half 2023)

© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee



Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
I don't want to be a naysayer but I get the feeling Yuka Suzuki won't get close to a sub 2:20 time. She peaked well at the Paris Olympics to get a PB on such a tough course but there is nothing I can see that gives me confidence that she can run a seriously fast time on a fast course at Osaka. I'll be surprised if anyone gets close to Honami Maeda's National Record. That was a run for the ages, under enormous pressure that I won't soon forget. It will be difficult for Mizuki Matsuda to post another PB on the back of her impressive Berlin marathon. It would be amazing if Nanaka Izawa can do something special. She has really shone since her comeback and across a lot of distances so if anyone can, perhaps she can. If she runs 2:20 to 2:23 that would be a very successful debut. Also, looking forward to seeing if Kana Kobayashi can continue to progress. It's dangerous for her running this event. I fear it is too soon after Hofu, only 2 months. To recover, train again and then peak for the race. Physically and mentally I'm not convinced this was a wise move. I expect Workenesh Edesa to win this race if she is anywhere near the form she was in last year. It should be a good race.
December 28, 2024 at 11:44 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Rui Aoki and Shunsuke Kuwata Making U.S. Debut at United Airlines NYC Half

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University , Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara , who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone. Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runne...
1 comment
Read more

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...
2 comments
Read more

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...
53 comments
Read more