Skip to main content

Tokyo International Women's Marathon Announces Elite Field For Its Final Running

by Brett Larner

On Oct. 28 the Tokyo International Women's Marathon announced the elite field for the event's 30th and final running, to take place Nov. 16. Top domestic runners Yoko Shibui, Yuri Kano, Yoshimi Ozaki and others will face off for slots on the 2009 Berlin World Track and Field Championships marathon team while competing against foreign competition including 2008 Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Mara Yamauchi of the U.K., 2007 Tokyo IWM runner-up Salina Kosgei of Kenya, and 2008 London Marathon runner-up Russian Svetlana Zakharova. Aging Ethiopians Derartu Tulu and Elfenesh Alemu are also on the entry list along with newcomers Tetyana Filonyuk of Ukraine and Kenyan Magdaline Chemjor.

Former marathon national record holder Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) had a career-worst run at last year's Tokyo but afterwards went on to experience a rebirth on the track, running the kind of performances not seen since her glory days over five years ago and ultimately making the Beijing Olympics 10000 m. If her rejeuvenation this year extends to the marathon she will be one of the favorites.

Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC) has also had a very strong year, clocking track and road PBs, winning June's Sapporo International Half Marathon, finishing 3rd in July's New York City Half Marathon, and winning October's Rock and Roll Half Marathon in San Jose. Kano is still relatively inexperienced at the marathon but seems poised for a breakthrough performance.

Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei), the younger sister of Kano's teammate Akemi Ozaki, ran a noteworthy debut marathon at the Nagoya International Women's Marathon in March, clocking 2:26:19 to take a close 2nd behind fellow debutante Yurika Nakamura's winning 2:25:51. Ozaki was graceful and strong, and like Kano may be ready for bigger things.

2008 Tokyo International Women's Marathon Elite Field
Svetlana Zakharova (Russia) - PB: 2:21:31 (Chicago `02) - SB: 2:24:39 (London '08)
Mara Yamauchi (U.K.) - PB: 2:25:10 (Osaka '08) - SB: 2:25:10 (Osaka '08) and 2:27:29 (Beijing Olympics)
Yoshimi Ozaki (Japan - Team Daiichi Seimei) - PB: 2:26:19 (Nagoya '08) - SB: 2:26:19 (Nagoya '08)
Salina Kosgei (Kenya) - PB: 2:23:22 (Berlin '06) - SB: 2:26:30 (London '08)
Yuri Kano (Japan - Second Wind AC) - PB: 2:24:43 (Osaka '07)- SB: 2:26:39 (Nagoya '08)
Tetyana Filonyuk (Ukraine) - PB: 2:28:40 (Paris '08) - SB: 2:28:40 (Paris '08)
Yukiko Matsubara (Japan - Team Asahi Kasei) - PB: 2:34:05 (Osakai '08) - SB: 2:34:05 (Osaka '08)
Ayumi Hayashi (Japan - Team Juhachi Ginko) - PB: 2:29:59 (Nagoya '06) - SB: 2:34:09 (Nagoya '08)
Yoko Shibui (Japan - Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - PB: 2:19:41 (Berlin '04) - SB: 2:34:15 (Tokyo IWM '07)
Derartu Tulu (Ethiopia) - PB: 2:23:30 (Helsinki '05) - SB: 2:36:32 (Madrid '08)
Magdaline Chemjor (Kenya) - PB: 2:28:16 (Amsterdam '07) - SB: 2:46:25 (Boston '08)
Elfenesh Alemu (Ethiopia) - PB: 2:24:29 (London '01) - SB: ---

(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n

93-Year-Old Masters Track and Field WR Holder Hiroo Tanaka: "Everyone has Unexplored Intrinsic Abilities"

  In the midst of a lot of talk about how to keep the aging population young, there are people with long lives who are showing extraordinary physical abilities. One of them is Hiroo Tanaka , 93, a multiple world champion in masters track and field. Tanaka began running when he was 60, before which he'd never competed in his adult life. "He's so fast he's world-class." "His running form is so beautiful. It's like he's flying." Tanaka trains at an indoor track in Aomori five days a week. Asked about him, that's the kind of thing the people there say. Tanaka holds multiple masters track and field world records, where age is divided into five-year groups. Last year at the World Masters Track and Field Championships in Poland he set a new world record of 38.79 for 200 m in the M90 class (men's 90-94 age group). People around the world were amazed at the time, which was almost unbelievable for a 92-year-old. After retiring from his job as an el