Three Japanese athletes ran Sunday's Tartan Ottawa International Marathon in an effort to score qualifying marks for the 2023 MGC Race, Japan's marathon trials for the 2024 Paris Olympics. In the men's race, Yuta Shimoda (GMO) and Takumi Oishi (Suzuki) went with the leaders all the way until eventual winner Andualem Shiferaw (Ethiopia) made his move before 30 km. Shiferaw, the favorite with a best of 2:05:52, was stellar over the second half, going 1:03:52 / 1:02:12 to set a new course record 2:06:04 for the win. When Shiferaw attacked, Oishi, coached by 2010 Ottawa winner Arata Fujiwara , immediately dropped off, ultimately finishing 8th in 2:15:50. Shimoda, who ran 2:08:35 at March's Tokyo Marathon and needed to run 2:11:25 here to qualify for the trials, hung on to 3rd, overtaken by Abdi Ali Gelchu (Bahrain) and dropping to 4th at one point but running down Leonard Langat (Kenya) just before the finish to retake 3rd. Yamaguchi went out in a pack of 6 women that...
the world's window into elite japanese distance running, since 2007