Paris Olympics alternate Ai Hosoda became the first Japanese athlete to score a place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th at the Sydney Marathon, but starting immediately after Sydney finished the hot and humid Hokkaido Marathon saw another 2 women and 3 men pick up their own trials spots.
The women's race saw Japan-based Kenyan Selly Chepyego Kaptich go out solo around 3:30/km pace, hitting halfway in 1:13:35 before starting to fade. Running her debut, Aiwa Sakaguchi was a bit more conservative, running 1:15:06 through halfway with the trio of Ayano Ikeuchi, Kaena Takeyama and Yukari Nagatomo 20 second behind. Sakaguchi passed Chepyego just past 30 km to take the lead and ran on unchallenged for the win in 2:31:50.
Ikeuchi dropped the other two and started to close on Sakaguchi after 30 km but couldn't quite get there, taking 2nd in 2:31:57 with Nagatomo 3rd in 2:33:57. By clearing 2:32:00 both Sakaguchi and Ikeuchi joined Hosoda on the list early qualifiers for the L.A. Olympic trials to be held in the fall of 2027.
The men's lead group was targeting sub-2:12:00 in order to hit the trials qualifying mark for Hokkaido, over a dozen of them together at halfway in 1:05:45 and only really breaking up after 30 km. Daisuke Uekado, Naoki Aiba and amateur Yudai Fukuda were side-by-side almost the entire way, leaving it to a 3-way battle after 40 km to decide the winner.
2:06 man Uekado got to the line first in 2:11:36, Aiba just 3 seconds behind in 2:11:39. Fukuda, who ran a PB of 2:13:19 in early July at the Gold Coast Marathon, just got under the trials cutoff with a 2:11:59 PB for 3rd, a rare non-corporate league addition to the Olympic trials roster. Tokyo Olympian Yuma Hattori struggled in the heat and dropped out early in the 2nd half.
Hokkaido Marathon
Sapporo, Hokkaido, 31 Aug. 2025
Women
1. Aiwa Sakaguchi (Bears) - 2:31:50
2. Ayano Ikeuchi (Denso) - 2:31:57
3. Yukari Nagatomo (Memolead) - 2:33:57
4. Kaena Takeyama (Senko)( - 2:37:43
5. Selly Chepyego Kaptich (Kyudenko) - 2:38:49
6. Miyu Moriuchi (T. Hally) - 2:41:56
7. Miyu Fukada (RAC) - 2:42:15
8. Saki Shimada (KAB) - 2:43:47
9. Yuri Mitsune (Hitachi) - 2:45:25
10. Tomomi Sawahata (Sawahatters) - 2:46:00
Men
1. Daisuke Uekado (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:11:36
2. Naoki Aiba (Chudenko) - 2:11:39
3. Yudai Fukuda (Ishikawa T&F Assoc.) - 2:11:59
4. Ryota Komori (NTN) - 2:12:50
5. Yuki Muta (Logisteed) - 2:13:40
6. Haruto Ono (JFE Steel) - 2:14:31
7. Masaki Sakuda (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:15:05
8. Akito Terui (Subaru) - 2:15:25
9. Kazumoto Iwasa (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:15:39
10. Taisei Kato (Asahi Kasei) - 2:16:18
11. Itto Otawa (Tochigi T&F Assoc.) - 2:16:29
12. Hiromasa Kumahashi (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 2:18:04
13. Yuichi Yasui (Toyota Tahara) - 2:18:53
14. Yusuke Tobimatsu (Hioki City Hall) - 2:18:57
15. Maki Yamada (Asahi Kasei) - 2:18:59
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DNF - Yuma Hattori (Toyota)
© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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