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This year's Osaka International Women's Marathon was a race run with a high level of methodicalness, starting slower than the planned 3:19/km but ramping up until the lead pack was skimming around the 2:20:15-30 projected finish level. After hitting halfway in 1:10:13 with a group of 6, by 25 km only 4 were left up front, sub-2:19 runners Workenesh Edesa , Stella Chesang and Bedatu Hirpa , and the debuting Mikuni Yada , and when the last 2 pacers stepped off at 30 km it was Yada who went to the front. Despite never have raced longer than the 10.6 km Third Stage at November's Queens Ekiden where she had helped the Edion team score its first-ever national title, Yada was very, very impressive, fearlessly surging from 12 km and never letting up, even laughing and smiling to fans along the course. When she started sustaining a pace around 3:15/km the projected finish dropped under 2:20 and all the way down to 2:19:28 by 35 km, and even when all 3 of the more experienced ru...

The Osaka International Women's Marathon 's 45th running is less than 2 weeks away on Jan. 25. Sub-2:20 trio Workenesh Edesa , Stella Chesang and Bedatu Hirpa make up the international component of the race, with veterans Mizuki Matsuda and Mao Uesugi the only ones close to them on paper, Matsuda with a 2:20:42 in Berlin 2 years ago and Uesugi 2:22:11 in Nagoya last year. Bringing the most upside to the race is Mizuki Nishimura , the next big thing from the Tenmaya corporate team that NR holder Honami Maeda calls home. Nishimura set a 1:41:42 CR at the Kumanichi 30 km last February, then tested the waters with a 2:25:54 debut for the win at the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon at the beginning of December. It's a quick turnaround since then, but chances are pretty good that she'll be the one to watch for the home crowd. There's also an interesting debut in the works from Mikuni Yada , a track runner who won bronze at last summer's Asian Championships with a 31:12....

On June 25 the JAAF announced that director Mitsuki Ogata is stepping down and will be replaced by vice-chair Yuko Arimori . A two-time Olympic marathon medalist, Arimori will be both the first woman and first Olympian to lead the JAAF. Arimori was born in 1966 in Okayama. In 1985 she graduated from Shujitsu H.S. and entered Nittai University . After graduating in 1989 she joined the Recruit corporate team under the leadership of head coach Yoshio Koide . In January, 1990 she ran 2:32:51 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon, at the time a debut marathon national record. The next year she placed 4th at the Tokyo World Championships, then took the silver medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Four years later Arimori followed that up with a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She retired from competition in 2007. After retiring, Arimori became active in a wide range of area, including as chair of Special Olympics Japan, a sports organization for intellectually-challen...

The Osaka International Women's Marathon , a selection race for September's Tokyo World Championships, took place Jan. 26 starting and finishing at Osaka's Nagai Stadium. In the field was 65-69 age group world record holder Mariko Yugeta , 66. Amid cold winds blowing through the city she ran 3:09:29. "I don't want to say that it's because I'm getting older, but this is getting more and more demanding and it's getting harder for my body to keep up with it," she said. After finishing the first thing Yugeta said was, "That was a bit disappointing...." with a pained look on her face. Her goal had been to break the 3:01:28 world record she set in the 65-69 age group at last year's Tokyo Marathon. "It was hard out there today," she said with a laugh. "Somebody told me that I look pale." A track runner in university, Yugeta ran her first marathon at the old Tokyo International Women's Marathon when she was 24. After t...

After breaking the CR with a 2:18:51 win at last year's Osaka International Women's Marathon , Ethiopian Workenesh Edesa was back as one of exactly 2 non-Japanese women in the elite field at this year's race. Set up to try to get at least Paris Olympics 6th-placer Yuka Suzuki under the 2:20 barrier, Osaka went out slower than planned but still ground the field down, only Edesa, Suzuki, the debuting Nanaka Izawa and last month's Hofu Yomiuri Marathon winner Kana Kobayashi left when they hit halfway in 1:10:12. The pacers immediately picked it up after halfway to try to get it back on target, killing off Izawa and Kobayashi. Suzuki lasted through 25 km in 1:22:53, 2:19:53 pace, but that was as far as she could go. The gap never really grew that much, but for the rest of the way in Edesa pulled away from Suzuki, taking the win in 2:21:00 without ever being under threat again. But there was some excitement behind her. After losing 35 seconds on Suzuki between halfway an...

Two days out from the Jan. 26 Osaka International Women's Marathon a few scratches have been announced near the bottom of the very short entry list. Out with injury is 2:26:50 runner Madoka Nakano , along with two collegiate runners who were set to make their debuts, Rio Einaga and Nanako Miwa . That's not going to impact the race up front, but it does make what is already a very small race for something with World Athletics platinum label status even smaller. There's last year's winner Workenesh Edesa , 3rd-placer Mizuki Matsuda , 7th-placer Natsumi Matsushita and 12th-placer Kana Kobayashi , top Japanese Paris Olympic marathon placer Yuka Suzuki , veteran Kenyan-born Israeli Lonah Chemtai Salpeter , the debuting Nanaka Izawa , and that's about it. It's a great chance to score some rankings points, and for the home team to try to get an edge up on Tokyo World Championships selection. Workenesh outran Honami Maeda last year, both going under 2:19 and Workene...

A year out from her disappointing finish at the 2024 Osaka International Women's Marathon , 29-year-old Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) returns to race it again this Sunday. "A place on the Tokyo World Championships team is on the line," she says. "I'm running to try to get name on the list." Last year Matsuda finished 3rd , her first time not winning it in 4 Osaka Women's starts and putting an end to her dream of making the Paris Olympics. Matsuda couldn't follow when Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) took off at halfway. "There goes my Olympics...." she says she thought as she watched Maeda pull away. Post-race she immediately started thinking about retiring, telling herself, "You put up a good fight." But 2 weeks later when she appeared as a special guest at the Ehime Marathon the words of encouragement she got from the mass-participation runners there spoke to her. "I'd never realized that I was an athlete that so many people cared ...

The elite field for the Jan. 26 Osaka International Women's Marathon is out, and it's a really short list, especially given Osaka International's World Athletics platinum label status. There's last year's winner Workenesh Edesa , 3rd-placer Mizuki Matsuda , 7th-placer Natsumi Matsushita , 9th-placer Madoka Nakano and 12th-placer Kana Kobayashi , top Japanese Paris Olympic marathon placer Yuka Suzuki , veteran Kenyan-born Israeli Lonah Chemtai Salpeter , the debuting Nanaka Izawa , and that's about it. Workenesh outran Honami Maeda last year, both going under 2:19 and Workenesh getting the win in 2:18:51. She has to be viewed as the favorite. Salpeter has run as fast as 2:17:45 before, but she hasn't run under 2:25 in the marathon or under 1:10 in the half marathon since 2022, so there's not much reason to think she's going to be competitive in a faster race here. Matsuda and Suzuki both ran PBs in their last marathons, Matsuda a 2:20:42 in Berlin ...

Workenesh Edesa and Honami Maeda made history at the Osaka International Women's Marathon , both going under 2:19 and Maeda breaking the 2005-era Japanese women's national record. Five pacers took the lead group of Edesa, Maeda, Stella Chesang , Mizuki Matsuda and Sayaka Sato through halfway in 1:09:46, well under pace for the 2:21:41 time the top Japanese woman would need to replace Olympic marathon trials 3rd-placer Ai Hosoda on the Paris team but 10 seconds behind pace to hit Mizuki Noguchi 's 2:19:12 NR from the 2005 Berlin Marathon when the three Japanese women up front were still in elementary school. Right at halfway Maeda, the 30 km NR holder, threw in a brash 3:11 km to open up on the pacers and rest of the pack, and it was pretty clear she had something special in mind. As the rest of the pack tried to change gears and catch back up Matsuda lost touch. Maeda went through 25 km with a projected finish time of 2:19:08, but the pack still regained ground. Then ...

Championship ekiden season wrapped last weekend, but there's still a lot going on this weekend. First up, Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.), who holds five U20 national records from 1500 m through 10000 m and ran a 59:22 half marathon equivalent at the Hakone Ekiden just over 3 weeks ago, tunes up for February's Millrose Games 2-mile with an indoor 5000 m at the Boston University Terrier Classic Friday night in his first race since turning 20. Sato has only run one indoor race before, a 3000 m silver medal at last year's Asian Indoor Championships, but the indoor NR of 13:27.81 is sure to be a target. The quick transition from Hakone isn't easy, but based on his 27:28.50 10000 m in November, the Asian indoor AR of 13:08.41 could be in range too. Three big road races dominate the horizon on Sunday. First up is the Katsuta Marathon in Ibaraki. Now in its 71st year, Katsuta has a mass participation field of 10000 with another 5000 m in its 10 km. Although it's got a hilly...

The Jan. 28 Osaka International Women's Marathon and Osaka Half Marathon organizers announced the elite fields for both races today. The marathon is all about whether a Japanese woman can run 2:21:41 to steal the third spot on the Paris Olympic team from Ai Hosoda , the 3rd-placer at October's MGC Olympic marathon trials. Only one Japanese woman in the field has done that, Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) with a 2:20:52 in Osaka International two years ago, and to help her try to get there organizers have pulled in Workenesh Edesa (Ethiopia), 2:18:51 in Berlin 2022, Stella Chesang (Uganda), 2:20:23 in Hamburg this past spring, and Sisay Meseret Gola (Ethiopia), 2:20:50 in Seville 2022. 2021 Tokyo Olympian Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) is probably Matsuda's strongest domestic competition at 2:22:32 earlier this year in Nagoya, with Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) and Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) more distantly in range. But with Nagoya coming in March with others in pursuit of the ...

It was another busy weekend with marathons in Osaka, Ibaraki and Chiba, a half marathon in Osaka, and post-season ekidens across the country. The Osaka International Women's Marathon was the major one of the bunch, if not an especially memorable race. On a new course that saw the addition of at least two hills and the start and finish point downgraded from the spectacular Yanmar Stadium Nagai to its exterior warmup track, it was basically a race of attrition that saw people fall off the sub-2:20 pace set by the pacers until only three athletes, Ethiopians Haven Hailu Desse and Meseret Gola Sisay and top-ranked Japanese woman Yuka Ando (Wacoal) were left. Desse surged the hardest at 30 km, running on unchallenged from there to win in 2:21:13. Sisay was next in 2:22:12, with Ando 3rd in 2:22:59. More memorable were two mid-race incidents. Just past 5 km, Reia Iwade (Denso) clipped Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) from behind and both went down. Sato got the worst of it, bloody in b...

Fresh off the announcement of the Tokyo Marathon elite field yesterday, Japan's first major marathon of the year takes place Sunday with the Osaka International Women's Marathon . Fuji TV will broadcast it live starting at noon local time, with streaming on TVer . With a reworked course that's hillier but which organizers hope will somehow still be faster, Osaka Women's is positioned for a 2:20 race with three women, Kenya's Maurine Chepkemoi and Ethiopians Haven Haile Desse and Sisay Meseret Gola at that level. The top tier of Japanese women, Sayaka Sato , Yuka Ando and Mao Uesugi , all ran 2:22 last year, so it'll be a jump up for them to stay with the front group. There's also a high-potential debut from 1:09:14 half marathoner Sakiho Tsutsui , who so far has looked to be stronger as the distance increases. Sato, Ando and Uesugi have all already qualified for October's Olympic marathon trials, so their being in the race raises the bar for anyon...

On Jan. 13 the organizers of the Jan. 29 Osaka International Women's Marathon announced that 2021 Tokyo Olympian and 30 km NR holder Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) has withdrawn due to pain around her left ankle. It was to have been her first marathon since the Olympics. Maeda has yet to qualify for the Oct. 15 Paris Olympic marathon trials race in Tokyo. While working to rehabilitate her ankle she will look for an alternative race at which to qualify. 2019 Doha World Championships marathon team member Madoka Nakano (Iwatani Sangyo) has also withdrawn after straining a muscle in her left thigh. source article: https://www.sankei.com/article/20230113-7GDLZLLJPBIXPGWT65CG6GODFA/ translated by Brett Larner

The Osaka International Women's Marathon jumps into the World Athletics platinum label pool Jan. 29 with its 42nd edition. A-group pacing it set to go at 3:19~20/km, 2:19:57 to 2:20:39 pace, with organizers opting to switch back to female pacers after two years with men. They've pulled in a trio of recent 2:20-level women, Kenyan Maurine Chepkemoi and Ethiopians Haven Hailu Desse and Sisay Meseret Gola , to try to max out the chances that the top Japanese women will be able to ride that in to something close to sub-2:20, and have tweaked the course a bit to do the same. Yuka Ando (Wacoal) is the only Japanese woman in the race to have gone sub-2:22 in her career, but in terms of times in the last three years she's one of three coming in with a 2:22, alongside last year's runner-up Mao Uesugi (Starts) and Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku). Tokyo Olympian Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) is in the mix too with a 2:23:30 in Osaka two years ago and some good half marathons last ye...

Part of the course for the 42nd Osaka International Women's Marathon to be held on Jan. 29 next year will changed, doubling its maximum elevation difference to 18 m with a hilly new section. 2004 Athens Olympics marathon gold medalist and national record holder Mizuki Noguchi was optimistic about the course change helping to produce fast times, saying, "When there are moderate undulations it's easier to get into a rhythm." Noguchi had success at the Olympics and elsewhere by attacking on hills. The new section of the Osaka International course on Nagahori-dori after 20 km features a series of uphills and downhills. Noguchi expects the section to play an important part in the race. "People might be thinking of changing the dynamic there, of shaking up the lead group. It's going to be a good thing." Another key change on the course is the elimination of the turnaround point at Midosuji just before 30 km. "If there's a 180˚ turn you have to slow ...

Former Hakone Ekiden uphill specialist and 2024 Olympic marathon trials qualifier Daichi Kamino , 28, revealed on his Youtube channel on Feb. 8 that he has suffered a stress fracture of his ribs. Kamino said that during training on Feb. 5 he felt sudden pain in his back. When the pain didn't go away after taking a day off, he went to the hospital on the 7th and was found to have sustained a fractured rib. "It's not a major fracture, so it should take too long to heal," Kamino said, indicating that he will take two weeks fully off and may not be able to run for up to a month. He said that doctors told him that his characteristic arm swing may have caused the fracture by repetitively compressing his chest cavity. "My first priority is to get healed," he said. "It's important to keep doing what training I can while injured, but to keep it to what I can do safely without overdoing it." Translator's note: Kamino was 2nd at the Dec. 19 Hofu Yomi...

As of right now the two fastest women's marathon times this year are the 2:19:12 American NR by Keira D'Amato  at the Jan. 16 Chevron Houston Marathon and the 2:20:52 by Japan's Mizuki Matsuda  at the Jan. 30 Osaka International Women's Marathon . Dr. Helmut Winter , in charge of the pace projection system used in Houston, wrote to JRN this week to point out that both women had almost identical splits at 30 km, D'Amato clocking 1:39:14 and Matsuda 1:39:15. Both women ran with male pacers, and both set new course records. How else did their runs compare? Both started with almost identical splits, D'Amato in 16:25 for the first 5 km and Matsuda in 16:28. In D'Amato's case she more or less held that through 15 km with an average split of 16:25 before slowing on a section of the course that included its toughest hill. From 15 km to 30 km she clocked 50:00, averaging 16:40 per 5 km. But despite slowing she was never off her target of breaking Deena Kastor ...

Beating the odds as race after race cancels amid rising COVID numbers, the Osaka International Women's Marathon went ahead as planned Sunday in great conditions along with its partner Osaka Half Marathon . Osaka local and favorite Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) proved unstoppable again, running with three male pacers on mid-2:19 pace most of the way, dropping lone competitor Mao Uesugi (Starts) with a surge at 25 km, fading over the final 10 km but hanging on to break the course record with a PB 2:20:52 that moved her up to all-time Japanese #5. In six marathon starts to date Matsuda has won Osaka three times, Nagoya once, and placed 5th in Berlin, all between 2:20:52 and 2:22:44. Not many people have that kind of record of success, anywhere. With this performance she's all but a lock to be named to the Oregon World Championships team, where she'll get a chance to show what she can do against real international competition. But having been in the same position for the Tokyo ...

Despite Osaka being named to a preliminary state of emergency as Japan goes deeper into its omicron wave, this weekend's Osaka International Women's Marathon and Osaka Half Marathon are going ahead on their traditional public road courses. Osaka Women's is Japan's last remaining purely elite marathon, and with the mass-participation Osaka Marathon moving to the last weekend of February this year and targeting WA platinum label status the writing has to be on the wall for its future. It just doesn't seem sustainable to have this race four weeks before the start of a three-week run of platinum label races, one in the same city, one in Tokyo and one in Nagoya. But for this year, at least, Osaka Women's clearly has the support up top in the local government to keep moving, and that counts for something. Like the 2021 race, despite its name it's a Japanese-only field with male pacers, kind of inevitably on the first point given Japan's ongoing border fortif...