Sakaguchi and Uekado Score Olympic Trials Spots With Hokkaido Marathon Wins

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

complete results

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

-----

DNF - Yuma Hattori (Toyota)

Japan's First Goldless Day - Asian Athletics Championships Day Four Highlights

Day 4 of the Bangkok Asian Athletics Championships was the first without a single gold medal going to Japan, but there were still enough silvers and bronzes to go around. Robyn Lauren Brown of the Philippines outclassed the rest of the women's 400 mH final field, taking gold in 57.50. Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto made it a Japanese 2-3, Utsunomiya running 57.73 for silver and Yamamoto 57.80 for bronze. Yusaku Kodama also scored silver in the men's 400 mH, running 48.96 behind Qatari winner Bassem Hemeida 's 48.64. Yuki Yamasaki won bronze in the heptathlon with 5696 points, Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina taking gold in 6098 and Swapna Barman silver in 5840. Teammate Karin Odama was 4th in 5487. Another bronze came in the mixed 4x400 m relay, with Japan running 3:15.71 behind India's 3:14.70 and Sri Lanka's 3:15.41. Naoto Hasegawa and Ryoichi Akamatsu both cleared 2.23 m in the men's high jump, Hasegawa finishing 4th overall and Akamatsu 5th. ...

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