Skip to main content

Osaka International Women's Marathon Preview - Watch Online

by Brett Larner

With six elite marathons in seven weeks, the crowded 2010 Japanese marathon season gets rolling this Sunday, Jan. 31 with the Osaka International Women's Marathon. With only an Asian Games spot at stake in a year without a major worldwide championships this year's Osaka has nevertheless attracted an interesting field containing a good number of relative newcomers and a few solid pros.

Osaka has been the site of some very memorable marathon debuts. Last year it was the site of track and half marathon star Yukiko Akaba's first marathon, 2nd overall in a credible 2:25:40. The Team Hokuren runner has been one of the main forces in the domestic track and ekiden scene for the last two years but her shaky appearances at the Olympics, the World Half Marathon and especially her disastrous run in the World Championships marathon have all weakened Akaba's reputation. With some expecting her to become Japan's next sub-2:20 woman Akaba is returning to Osaka to get her marathoning back on track before a planned appearance at April's London Marathon.

Also getting things back on track in Osaka is seasoned World Championships marathoner Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz). Ozaki is the second-fastest woman in the field by PB with her time of 2:23:30 from Osaka '03. She has been out of peak form the last couple of years but the talk around town is that she is fit and ready for a fast one.

Among the foreign elites, Marisa Barros (Portugal) and Amane Gobena (Ethiopia) look to be the most dangerous. Neither has extensive marathon experience, but each holds a 2:26 PB set last year. Barros ran a 10000 m PB of 31:31 earlier this month, suggesting she has the speed to improve her mark. Gobena, mother of a three year old son, has told the Japanese media she hopes to run 2:23. If she is true to her word it will take a serious effort from Akaba, Ozaki or the others in the field to outdo her.

As usual, there is a share of first-timers lining up in Osaka as well. Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu) was a university ace before joining Team Daihatsu, while Azusa Nojiri (Team Daiichi Seimei) was a pro XC skiier before becoming a teammate of Berlin World Championships silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki a year and a half ago. Both women have been strong on the ekiden scene throughout the fall and winter, and with both clocking half marathon PBs of 1:10 at last year's Jitsugyodan Half Marathon. A debut of 2:27 or better would not be surprising for either.

Veterans in the field include perennial Osaka invitee Lidia Simon (Romania), Olivia Jevtic (Serbia), and in her last run, 2006 Asian Games bronze medalist Kayoko Obata (Team Acom).

Fuji TV will broadcast the race live nationwide from 12:00 to 2:55 p.m. Overseas viewers should be able to watch live online using Keyhole TV. JRN will be on-site for the race, with associate editor Mika Tokairin running the marathon and editor Brett Larner doing the pre-race half marathon. In the half marathon field are last year's winner Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) and her teammate Yuri Kano, along with 2009 Copenhagen Marathon winner Chihiro Tanaka (Team Daitsu).

2010 Osaka International Women's Marathon Elite Field With Bib Numbers
click here for more detailed profiles and athlete photos
1. Lidia Simon (Romania) - 2:22:54 (Osaka 2000)
31. Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) - 2:23:30 (Osaka 2003)
32. Kayoko Obata (Team Acom) - 2:25:14 (Osaka 2000)
2. Olivera Jevtic (Serbia) - 2:25:23 (Rotterdam 2003)
33. Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) - 2:25:40 (Osaka 2009)
3. Marisa Barros (Portugal) - 2:26:03 (Seville 2009)
34. Chika Horie (Team Universal Ent.) - 2:26:11 (Hokkaido 2002)
4. Amane Gobena (Ethiopia) - 2:26:53 (Los Angeles 2009)
35. Ayumi Nakayama (Team Yamada Denki) - 2:28:50 (Osaka 2008)
5. Dulce Maria Rodriguez (Mexico) - 2:28:54 (Chicago 2006)
36. Yumi Hirata (Team Shiseido) - 2:29:23 (Nagoya 2008)
37. Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu) - 1:10:16 (Jitsugyodan Half 2009)
38. Azusa Nojiri (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:53 (Jitsugyodan Half 2009)
6. Volha Krautsova (Belarus) - 1:11:33 (Philadelphia Half 2007)

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

SLB said…
Good to see Simon and Jevtic in the field. Hard to believe they are both still competing so well when you consider Simon made the top-10 at the European Championships in 1994 and Jevtic was fourth at the world half-marathon champs in 1998 (and fourth at 5000m and 10000m on the track at the European Champs).
Brett Larner said…
Greetings from Osaka where the moon is rising high above downtown. I just read that Yukiko Akaba is coming off an injury to her left knee but is planning to run anyway. Could affect the outcome.
kevin said…
They shouldn't have foreign runners. Too mad Mari ozaki lost to amane gobena. The africans are the best They always beat the japanese.

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters