Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview

The Nagoya Women's Marathon, the world's largest women-only marathon and the last race in the selection cycle for September's Tokyo World Championships, happens Sunday. Weather conditions are looking better than what they had in Tokyo and Osaka the last two weekends, 7˚ at the start and rising to 12˚ with sunny skies. The wind looks a bit stronger than ideal, but it could be worse. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. Sunday local time, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch the TVer streaming. One option for a leaderboard is here, and another here. We'll have some coverage on @JRNLive.

Just like last time around there are three Ethiopian and Kenyan-born athletes at the top list, this time it being sub-2:20 women Sheila Chepkirui, winner in NYC last year, and Ruti Aga, winner in Xiamen in January, and last year's Nagoya runner-up Eunice Chebichii Chumba. But last year Yuka Ando still pulled off the win, so there's a chance that Rika Kaseda, 2:21:55 in Berlin in 2022, 4th last year in 2:22:11, and fresh off a 1:07:53 PB at the Marugame Half in February, could step up.

She's not alone in that, though. Australia's Isobel Batt-Doyle beat Kaseda in Marugame with a 1:07:17 NR, suggesting she's got something under 2:21:30 in store. Ando won last year in 2:21:18. And lurking in the background after a conservative 2:31:04 debut in Hokkaido last summer is 1:06:56 half marathoner Pauline Kamulu.

Kaseda is the only Japanese woman in the race under the 2:23:30 World Championships standard, but #2-ranked Sayaka Sato is also qualified via placing at last year's Osaka International Women's Marathon. They're the best bets to pick up a place on the Worlds team, with Mao Uesugi a little more distant an outlier. There's a lot of excitement, though, about the debut of mixed road 10 km and women-only half marathon NR holder Rino Goshima. Outside of ekidens Goshima hasn't raced since the Paris Olympics 10000 m, but if she's on then she should be in contention for the top Japanese spot.

What do they need to do to make the Tokyo team? The only clear route is to make it to the top of the JMC Series IV rankings, currently occupied by Ando after her 2:23:37 for top Japanese in Tokyo last weekend. Goshima can't do that off one race, but Kaseda needs to be the top Japanese in 2:19:47 to pass Ando by. Sato and others would need to be a bit faster than that. The other two members of the Tokyo team will be chosen through the black box of the JAAF's evaluation of performances here, in the Osaka Women's Marathon, and elsewhere. They don't like putting people on national teams off a debut marathon, so Goshima would have to do something really special to have a shot.

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field Highlights

Nagoya, Aichi, 9 Mar. 2025

complete field listing

times listed are athletes' best within last 3 years except where noted

Sheila Chepkirui (Kenya) - 2:17:29 (Valencia 2022)

Ruti Aga (Ethiopia) - 2:18:09 (Dongying 2023)

Eunice Chebichii Chumba (Bahrain) - 2:20:02 (Seoul 2022)

Rika Kaseda (Japan/Daihatsu) - 2:21:55 (Berlin 2022)

Sayaka Sato (Japan/Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:22:13 (Berlin 2022)

Isobel Batt-Doyle (Australia) - 2:22:59 (Valencia 2024)

Natasha Wodak (Canada) - 2:23:12 (Berlin 2022)

Mao Uesugi (Japan/Tokyo Metro) - 2:24:16 (Nagoya 2023)

Yumi Yoshikawa (Japan/Chiba T&F Assoc.) - 2:25:20 (Osaka Women's 2023)

Yuyu Xia (China) - 2:25:45 (Nagoya 2024)

Fabienne Konigstein (Germany) - 2:25:48 (Hamburg 2023)

Li Bai (China) - 2:26:33 (Wuxi 2023)

Cuomu Ciren (China) - 2:26:47 (Hengshui 2024)

Sakiho Tsutsui (Japan/Univ. Ent.) - 2:26:51 (Rotterdam 2024)

Natsuki Omori (Japan/Daihatsu) - 2:26:54 (Nagoya 2024)

Dan Li (China) - 2:27:32 (Wuxi 2024)

Kaede Takeyama (Japan/Senko) - 2:29:20 (Osaka Women's 2023)

Yuri Mitsune (Japan/18 Ginko) - 2:29:49 (Nagoya 2024)

Pauline Kamulu (Kenya/Route Inn Hotels) - 2:31:04 (Hokkaido 2024)

Ayumi Morita (Japan/Tokyo Metro) - 2:31:38 (Tokyo 2024)

Debut

Rino Goshima (Japan/Shiseido) - 1:08:03 (National Corporate Half 2022)

Leanne Pompeani (Australia) - 1:09:01 (Melbourne 2024)

Yuna Wada (Japan/Japan Post) - 32:49.59 (National Championships 10000 m 2023)

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...

Kuwata Runs Fastest-Ever Half Marathon by Japanese Man Outside Japan at United Airlines NYC Half

When the NYRR changed the United Airlines NYC Half course back in 2018 to more or less its current Boston-style hilly one-way version it seemed like it had been repurposed from a fast course to something more tactical. That went out the window last year with new course records of 59:09 and 1:07:04 from Abel Kipchumba and Sharon Lokedi , and this year's results backed that up. Hellen Obiri ground Lokedi down and took over 30 seconds off her CR, winning in 1:06:33 with Lokedi only 6 seconds off what she ran in 2025 but a distant 2nd in 1:07:10. British road 10 km NR holder Megan Keith rolled up hard late in the race to finish 3rd in 1:07:13 less than 10 seconds off old CR too. The men's race saw a big group of 18 attack the hilly first half on sub-59 pace, American Joe Klecker leading through 5 km in 13:57 and Houston Marathon winner Zouhair Talbi through 10 km in 27:56. Right up in it was Shunsuke Kuwata , a 20-year-old 2nd-year at 2025 National University Ekiden champ Koma...

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...

japan running news

Search This Blog