Strintzos Breaks Australian NR at Gold Coast Marathon

Fresh off a 1:00:41 Australian all-comers record at the Launceston Half at the end of May, Haftu Strintzos lived up to the potential he showed there with a negative split 2:06:20 Australian NR and CR to win the ASICS Gold Coast Marathon.

Post-race Strintzos was quick to give credit to the expert pacing trio of 2:06:00 runner Tsubasa Ichiyama, who paced Yuki Takei's 2:07:33 CR last year, 2:07:14 American Ethan Shuley, and 2:07:34 runner Shinsaku Kudo who paced Gold Coast 2 years ago. The trio kept things going slightly hotter than the 3:01 target pace, on track for 2:06:50 most of the way. Ichiyama stopped at 25 km and Kudo at 30 km, and at that point it was down to Strintzos, 2:06:26 runner Hidekazu Hijikata, and the debuting Jinya Ozaki.

Shuley was tasked with going to 30 km but, critically, kept it going for another 2 km over the only significant hill on the Gold Coast course. Just as Strintzos did in Launceston, when Shuley stepped off at 32 km Strintzos got to work, splitting 14:33 between 30 and 35 km to kill off both Ozaki and Hijikata. From there it was a one-man show, Strintzos digging deep after 40 km to clear Andy Buchanan's NR by just 2 seconds with a 5-minute+ PB and 1:13 CR 2:06:20 for the win. His victory made him the first Australian to win the Gold Coast since Lee Troop way back in 2006.

Hijikata held on to 2nd in 2:07:20, the 2nd-best time of his career, with Ozaki clocking a quality 2:07:48 in his first marathon. Japanese athletes took 5 of the next 7 spots, with PBs from Ryoma Takeuchi, Kaisei Sugiyama, Naoki Tomita and Ryuichi Yoshioka. Benson Tunyo Murkomen was the only one of the 5 invited African marathoners to finish the race, 6th in 2:09:18, while American Patrick Cullen rounded out the top 10 with a 2:12:15 PB.

In the early going the women's race featured 2 Kenyans, 2 Ethiopians and 2 Japanese athletes, with the Australian leaders holding back with Mongolian Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh. Steady on mid-2:23 pace, the lead group shook down to 20-year-old Almaz Kebebe, Antonina Kwambai, and Kaede Kawamura before Kebebe broke away.

Where Strintzos was able to split 1:03:30/1:02:50, Kebebe struggled to hold onto the projected finish time after the pacers stopped, going 1:11:59/1:12:54 to win just off the CR in 2:24:53. Kwambai was 2nd in 2:25:41 and Kawamura 3rd in 2:28:00 to make it an evenly international podium. Abigail Nordberg was the top Australian at 4th in a 2:30:22 PB.

ASICS Gold Coast Marathon

Gold Coast, Australia, 5 July 2026

complete results

Men

1. Haftu Strintzos (Australia) - 2:06:20 - NR, CR

2. Hidekazu Hijikata (Japan) - 2:07:20

3. Jinya Ozaki (Japan) - 2:07:48 - debut

4. Ryoma Takeuchi (Japan) - 2:08:20 - PB

5. Kaisei Sugiyama (Japan) - 2:09:03 - PB

6. Benson Tunyo Murkomen (Kenya) - 2:09:18

7. Naoki Tomita (Japan) - 2:09:28 - PB

8. Ryuichi Hashimoto (Japan) - 2:10:18

9. Ryuichi Yoshioka (Japan) - 2:10:26 - PB

10. Patrick Cullen (U.S.A.) - 2:12:15 - PB

11. Mizuki Higashi (Japan) - 2:12:48

12. Sydney Gidabuday (U.S.A.) - 2:12:49 - PB

13. Ilham Tanui Ozbilen (Turkey) - 2:13:09

14. Hiromasa Kumahashi (Japan) - 2:13:39

15. Tomohiro Kaijo (Japan) - 2:15:11 - PB

-----

DNF - Dominic Ngeno (Kenya)

DNF - Enyew Nigat (Ethiopia)

DNF - Elisha Rotich (Kenya)

DNF - Abayneh Degu Tsehay (Ethiopia)

Women

1. Almaz Kebebe (Ethiopia) - 2:24:53

2. Antonina Kwambai (Kenya) - 2:25:41

3. Kaede Kawamura (Japan) - 2:28:00

4. Abigail Nordberg (Australia) - 2:30:22 - PB

5. Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh (Mongolia) - 2:30:46

6. Milly Clark (Australia) - 2:31:18

7. Aika Murakami (Japan) - 2:32:32

8. Nichola Sheridan (Ireland) - 2:33:26 - PB

9. Simone McInnes (Australia) - 2:34:46

10. Riine Ringi (Estonia) - 2:36:19 - PB

11. Alexandra Lyndon (Australia) - 2:36:22 - PB

12. Danette Sheehan (Canada) - 2:37:20

13. Joyline Chemutai (Kenya) - 2:38:15 - PB

14. Natasha Richards (Australia) - 2:41:40 - PB

15. Mazie Russel (Australia) - 2:42:43

-----

DNF - Lensa Debele Jaleta (Ethiopia)

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

Route Inn Hotels Win National Corporate Women's Ekiden Qualifier for First Time

After Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race in Tokyo, 2nd-tier corporate women's teams were in Fukuoka for their own national championships qualifying race, the Princess Ekiden . With Queens Ekiden 19-placer Otsuka Seiyaku a DNS, 30 teams lined up for the 6-stage, 42.195 km race where the top 16 would go on to join the top 8 from last year's Queens Ekiden at next month's national race. Coming right in the middle of the international fall marathon season several teams had people still tired from Berlin and Chicago, with Daihatsu fielding Rika Kaseda and Natsuki Omori from Berlin, Tokyo Metro sending out its own Berlin duo of Mao Uesugi and Ayumi Morita , and Kraftia not playing its top member Yuka Akasaki after her solid run in Chicago last week. After a fast start from eventual 9th-placer Denso 's Rio Matsutani , Daihatsu took over on the Second Stage and held it until the Fifth, where a tired Omori dropped to 3rd. Mayuka Fujita from Route Inn H...

japan running news

Search This Blog