japan running news

At a pre-race press conference at Tokyo's New National Stadium on Oct. 14, the Tokyo Marathon Foundation announced the list of withdrawals from Sunday's inaugural Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon . On the women's side, #1-ranked Fiona O'Keeffe (U.S.A.) and collegiate marathon NR holder Sairi Maeda (Daihatsu) were the two biggest names to pull out, O'Keeffe listed as sick and Maeda with injury. On the men's side, Tokyo Olympic marathoners Yuma Hattori (Toyota) and Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) were the biggest losses given the event's intent of commemorating the Olympic and Paralympic races, both athletes listed as injured. Other prominent withdrawals include former NR holder Yuta Shitara (Honda), 2022 National Corporate 10000 m champion Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku), 2021 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Michael Githae (Suzuki), 2022 Twin Cities Marathon winner Yuya Yoshida (GMO) and Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Shin Nihon Jusetsu). Para athlet...

Japan's newest top-level half marathon happens Oct. 16 in Tokyo with the Tokyo Legacy Half bringing together 70 elite men, 23 elite women and 15,000 mass-participation runners to cover a course unused for the Tokyo Olympics but which did see action, including three home team medals, at the Tokyo Paralympics. The women's race has American Fiona O'Keeffe in a duel with this year's National Corporate Half winner Dolphine Omare , both of them having cleared 68 minutes this year. American Betsy Saina went sub-68 at Marugame in 2019 but hasn't finished a race since the 2019 Honolulu Marathon, her only starts since then being a DNF in Nagoya 2020 and a DNF at last year's Olympic test half in Sendai. Fresh off a win at the Hokkaido Marathon at the end of August, Haruka Yamaguchi is next in line with a 1:09:50 PB in Gifu this spring. Ikumi Fukura is the only other Japanese woman to have gone sub-70 in the field with a 1:09:58 PB from the 2020 National Corporate Half....