Skip to main content

Olympic Marathon Women's "Team Japan" Leaves for Flagstaff

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/other/athletic/headlines/20120614-00000047-dal-spo.html

translated by Brett Larner

London Olympic marathoners Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) and Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya) left from Tokyo's Narita Airport on June 14 for group training in Flagstaff, Arizona.  The third team member, Ryoko Kizaki(Team Daihatsu) met them after flying up from Osaka's Itami Airport.  It will be the first time all three members of an Olympic team have trained together prior to the Olympics.

Ozaki, the senior member of the team, said, "We're going into this Olympics as Team Japan, and we're going to be competitive.  Having this opportunity to work together is going to motivate us as we get in some great training."  Shigetomo added, "It's the same people I'll be racing with, so I think it's going to be a good training camp."

Comments

Skooby said…
Vancouver, March 9th, 2013

I'll be looking forward to cheer for them for the next Olympic Games, in Rio de Janeiro, in 2016.


2013 Nagoya Ladies Marathon(March 10th, Sun):

Kizaki Ryoko was amazing today, at the 2013 Nagoya Ladies Marathon. She won it, with 2:23:34, qualifying for the 2013 World Track & Field World Championship, in Russia. She left behind, the 2004 Olympic Gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi, who finished in 3rd, and ethiopian Berhane Dibaba, finishing in 2nd, just a few seconds behind the winner Kizaki Ryoko.

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

Three Japanese Men Running 128th Boston Marathon

Back in Japan's golden years Boston was a big draw for its top talent in the marathon, but for a long time it was off the list of first-choice marathons as the preoccupation shifted to times. That started changing again in 2017 when 5000 m NR holder Suguru Osako made his debut there with a 2:10:28 for 3rd, following in the footsteps of other Waseda University alum who ran well in Boston including two-time winner Toshihiko Seko and the late Tomoyuki Taniguchi . Osako was 3rd at October's Paris Olympic marathon trials, putting him in position to be on the Paris team unless someone runs 2:05:50 or better at February's Osaka Marathon or March's Tokyo Marathon. Having run 2:06:13 in Tokyo last year but beaten by two Japanese men who both went under 2:06, there wasn't really any upside to Osako doing Tokyo this time. Osaka seemed like the logical choice, but like he has for most of his life Osako is following his own motivations and opting to return to the 128th Boston