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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.

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