Skip to main content

Mizuki Matsuda Going for Tokyo Worlds In Osaka : "I'm Going to Give It Everything That I Still Have"


A year out from her disappointing finish at the 2024 Osaka International Women's Marathon, 29-year-old Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) returns to race it again this Sunday. "A place on the Tokyo World Championships team is on the line," she says. "I'm running to try to get name on the list."

Last year Matsuda finished 3rd, her first time not winning it in 4 Osaka Women's starts and putting an end to her dream of making the Paris Olympics. Matsuda couldn't follow when Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) took off at halfway. "There goes my Olympics...." she says she thought as she watched Maeda pull away. Post-race she immediately started thinking about retiring, telling herself, "You put up a good fight." But 2 weeks later when she appeared as a special guest at the Ehime Marathon the words of encouragement she got from the mass-participation runners there spoke to her. "I'd never realized that I was an athlete that so many people cared about," she said. The experience convinced her to give it another go.

Her coach Miwako Yamanaka was supportive too, telling her, "I quit because I had come to hate running and track and field. I want you to still have a love for it when you decide to stop." With a new determination, Matsuda ran September's Berlin Marathon where she set a lifetime PB of 2:20:42. The feeling of joy in the act of running and the sense of fulfillment afterward was something she hadn't felt since winning her debut marathon at the 2018 Osaka International Women's Marathon. "I never thought I could feel that way," she says. "I'm glad I worked hard for it."

Matsuda says the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are not on her long-range radar. "It would be extremely draining personally, and it's not something I want to think about." But September's Tokyo World Championships are perfectly positioned. Starting and finishing at the Tokyo national stadium like the qualifying race for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics did amps up her motivation. "When I was shooting for the Tokyo Olympics the chance to run a race starting and finishing at the National Stadium was inspiring," she says. "It's not like I want payback this time for having missed it, but I do want to get the chance to run a race there wearing the Rising Sun colors."

Matsuda is clear about her choice to go for the Tokyo Worlds team in her hometown. "There's no place I would have chosen other than Osaka," she says. "I'm going to give it everything that I still have in me." The Osaka International Women's Marathon happens this Sunday, Jan. 26 at 12:15 p.m. Fuji TV will broadcast the race live starting at 12:00.

source article:

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 9 Nagoya Women's Marathon is the last big elite marathon on Japan's winter schedule, this year with a trio of sub-2:20 runners up front, Sheila Chepkirui , Aga Ruti and Hitomi Niiya . It being a home soil World Championships selection cycle there's decent depth behind them, and 2:21 runner Rika Kaseda looks especially on her game right now with a 1:07:53 PB at the Marugame Half earlier this month. Australian Isobel Batt-Doyle is also trending in the right direction, having run 2:22:59 in her last go in Valencia in December. The debut list is pretty interesting, with women-only half marathon NR holder Rino Goshima , 1:08:03, making her debut, as are 1:09:01 Australian Leanne Pompeani and track runner Yuna Wada . 2018 World Half Marathon silver medalist Pauline Kamulu isn't technically debuting, having run 2:31:04 at last summer's hot and humid Hokkaido Marathon, but with a 1:07:33 in Marugame ahead of Kaseda she has a lot of potential to go 10 minutes ...
1 comment
Read more

Yuasa Goes Sub-2:10 to Win Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon

Almost totally absent its usual winds, great conditions at the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon produced overall fast times and a sub-2:10 winning time for the second year in a row. Last year Waseda University 's Yota Ifuku became the first man to break 2:10 in Nobeoka with a surprise 2:09:26 debut for the win. Ifuku was back as a pacer with 2:07 man Tetsuya Yoroizaka from the local national champion Asahi Kasei corporate team, taking the lead group through 30 km almost dead on 3:06/km pace. A lead group of 12 was still together at that point, but just over a kilometer later Jin Yuasa , solid at January's New Year Ekiden in his corporate league debut with the Toyota corporate team with a 2nd-place run on the 11.4 km Sixth Stage, went on the attack. Pre-race Yuasa had said that he planned to bide his time until a strategic uphill between 31 and 32 km, and that's exactly what he did. Pushing on the climb, Yuasa then rolled a 2:52 for the 33rd km to blow the pack apart. F...
Post a Comment
Read more

Honda's Shota Nakano Wins Close Karatsu 10-Miler

At the 65th Karatsu 10-Mile Road Race Sunday in Karatsu, Saga, Shota Nakano (Honda) won in 47:30. Nakano graduated from Hiroshima's Sera H.S. before joining Chuo University . He ran the Hakone Ekiden three years in a row beginning his 2nd year at Chuo, winning the Third Stage his 3rd year. After graduating last spring he joined Honda, where he set a 1500 m PB of 3:41.47 at September's National Corporate Track and Field Championships. His other PBs include 13:24.11 for 5000 m, 28:00.86 for 10000 m and 1:02:49 for the half marathon. This was his first time racing the 10-mile distance. Yushin Akatsu (Komori Corp.) was 2 seconds behind Nakano in 47:32, with Daiki Nomimura (NTT Nishi Nihon) 3rd in 47:33 and veteran Keita Shitara (Nishitetsu) 4th in 47:35. Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) took the women's 10 km in 34:12 and Shiena Kanamori (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) the high school girls' 5 km in 16:22. Taiyo Iwasa (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) won the high school boys' 10 km ...
Post a Comment
Read more