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...

The 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee announced on Apr. 8 that the marathon scheduled for the final day of the Tokyo Paralympics on Sept. 6, 2020, will be held on the same course to be used for the Olympics. The 42.195 km course will start and finish at the New National Stadium, the first time since the 2008 Beijing Olympics that the same course has been used for both the Olympics and Paralympics. Starting at 7:00 a.m., the race will feature five different classes of wheelchair and visually-challenged athletes. Committee Sports Director Koji Murofushi commented, "For a Paralympic marathon this will be a uniquely wide-ranging, dynamic course." 2018 Paris Marathon winner Hiroki Nishida (Baccarat Pacific), the first-ever Japanese winner of Paris' wheelchair division, expected the final uphill section of the course, which climbs 30 m in the last 3 km, to be crucial, saying, "Tactics will play a role until just before the hill, and there...