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Akasaki PBs in Chicago, Takeuchi 2nd in Perth


Four elite-level Japanese athletes were at the Chicago Marathon Sunday. In the women's race, Yuka Akasaki (Kraftia), 6th in the marathon at the Paris Olympics, ran the second-fastest time of her career, 2:23:18 for 11th. Her husband Akira Akasaki (Kraftia), also 6th in Paris and runner-up in Berlin last year, better his PB by 28 seconds with a 2:05:47 for 9th, the fastest time this year by a Japanese man and his second-straight World Marathon Majors top 10 finish.

NR holder Suguru Osako (Li Ning) was about 3 minutes off his goal of a new Asian record with a 2:07:34 for 14th, with half marathon NR holder Tomoki Ota (Toyota) struggling a bit to find his feet in his marathon debut, running 2:11:52 for 26th off a 1:02:57 first half.

At the Perth Running Festival marathon in Australia, 2025 Warsaw Marathon winner Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) had a great head-to-head race against Kenyan Dominic Ngeno, together through 10 km, then dropping as far as 1:42 behind at one point before closing up again. A DNF at July's Gold Coast Marathon, Ngeno won in 2:16:53 just 10 seconds off the CR, with Takeuchi 2nd in 2:17:46. Women's winner Antonina Kwambai of Kenya, the runner-up at Gold Coast, was 5th overall in a 2:28:08 CR.

© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Anonymous said…
Great result for the Akasaki couple at Chicago. A PB for Akira Akasaki in the heat is a great result even though I believe he was disappointed the NR alluded him. Happy to see Yuka Akasaki running after such a long spell on the side lines with injury. And especially glad to see her hit the MGC qualification standard. Oct 3 next year is going to be super competitive to get a birth in the Japanese marathon team.
October 14, 2026 at 4:56 AM
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