With Niiya's withdrawal the top domestic seed in Nagoya is now Rika Kaseda (Daihatsu), 2:21:55 in Berlin 3 years ago. The complete remaining Nagoya field is here.
© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
The SG Holdings men's corporate team announced on Oct. 1 that long-distance athletes Hyuga Endo and Yuichiro Nishikawa have joined its roster after leaving the Sumitomo Denko team. Endo, 28, won the Junior Olympics 3000 m while at Koriyama Nishi J.H.S. before going on to Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. where he was the the top Japanese placer in the 5000 m at the National High School Championships 2 years in a row. After graduating from Gakuho Ishikawa he joined the Sumitomo Denko team, winning the National Championships 5000 m in 2021. He won gold at the 2023 Asian Championships and represented Japan at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. "I will give everything I have as part of the team and work hard toward helping it win the New Year Ekiden," he said of his new environment. Of his personal goals he said, "I want to focus on the 5000 m and reach new levels to compete internationally." Nishikawa, 28, was a member of Tokai University 's winning teams at the H...
Comments
* Rino Goshima's debut marathon performance. I have high expectations because of her previous road running exploits;
* Rika Kaseda - can she capitalize on her outstanding half marathon form;
* Sayaka Sato - in training her focus has been on building endurance for the 2nd half of the race where she has inevitably faltered in the past. Can she deliver results now?
* How will the 2 Australian athletes (Isobel Batt-Doyle and Leanne Pompeani) perform, (after Jessica Stenson's 2:22:56 PB at Tokyo last week, where she surprisingly, for me, beat all Japanese athletes.)
My big hope is that Rino Goshima has a great debut marathon. On paper, she may be the one to break Honami Maeda's national record in the future. At present, I can't see anyone breaking that record for some time unless Honami Maeda does it herself when she returns.