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Rio Olympics Marathoner Fukushi Pulls Out of Sunday's Hakodate Half With Foot Pain, Coach Denies Stress Fracture (updated)

http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASJ6Q3JD3J6QKTQ2006.html

translated by Brett Larner

On June 22 the organizers of the June 26 Hakodate Half Marathon announced that Rio Olympics women's marathon team member Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) has pulled out of Sunday's race due to pain in her right foot.  After returning mid-month from a training camp in the U.S.A. Fukushi went to the hospital to undergo examination before making the decision to withdraw.

The details are not clear, but there is a possibility of a stress fracture and the team has opted to take it seriously.  Wacoal head coach Tadayuki Nagayama was cautious looking toward August's main event, commenting, "We really have to watch our step here, but training will continue."  He indicated that Fukushi plans to race abroad in July as a tuneup for Rio.

Update:

http://www.daily.co.jp/newsflash/general/2016/06/22/0009212045.shtml

In response to reports that Rio de Janeiro Olympics women's marathon team member Kayoko Fukushi (34, Team Wacoal) may have sustained a stress fracture, Wacoal head coach Tadayuki Nagayama, 56, denied the news, telling the press, "It is not broken."  He said that she has some inflammation of the fourth metatarsal in her right foot that led them to pull out of the June 26 Hakodate Half Marathon, that there is no fracture, that they are making necessary adjustments to her training and continuing to prepare for the Olympics.

Regarding Fukushi's condition coach Nagayama said, "She can train, but it's possible some problems may surface during the Olympics.  She can really take a lot of pain, so if we overdo it now there's a potential danger [of a stress fracture], yes.  Rest is critical to a quick recovery."

According to coach Nagayama, Fukushi's right foot started to hurt around the time of the May 15 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, but she continued with her training after that.  This month she underwent two medical examinations at her training base in the U.S. and after returning to Japan on the 18th, but although inflammation of the fourth metatarsal on her right foot was found neither examination discovered a stress fracture.

Currently Fukushi is doing 20-30 km training runs.  "The goal is August 14, so we can't take unnecessary risks now," Nagayama said of the decision to pull out of Hakodate.  She will not race again before Rio, stepping onto the biggest stage with no dry run, but, said coach Nagayama, "She's doing race pace in training, so we'll see how she looks during practice."  Emphasizing that there was no problem, he said, "Although there are some changes to the pace of her workouts in the 50 days left [until the Olympic marathon] we don't plan any major changes.  We'll proceed with preparations at that pace.  As long as she doesn't fall during the race I think she'll be fine."

Comments

Wiliam said…
Wow! It sounds that this race is pretty exciting. I like...

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