Nagoya Women’s Marathon Elite Field

by thebestworldevents.com 15 February 2024 · Running

[ad_1]

2022 Oregon World Championships gold medalist and 2023 Budapest World Championships silver medalist Gotytom Gebreslase leads the elite field for the Mar. 10 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, the last chance for Japanese women to steal a place on the Paris Olympics team. The last two years Nagoya has had a $250,000 payout for the winner, the biggest in the sport, but with the exchange rate and Japan’s economic situation being what it is that’s down to $150,000 this year. That’s still enough to pull in a big talent like Gebreslase, the only woman in the field positioned to verrrry hypothetically drag one of the Japanese women to the 2:18:58 they’d need to pick up the 3rd Paris team spot.

Ai Hosoda was 3rd at October’s Olympic trials but was bumped down to 1st alternate by Honami Maeda‘s 2:18:59 NR last month in Osaka. Hosoda, Ayuko Suzuki, Rika Kaseda and Yuka Ando have run under or within seconds of the 2:21:41 they needed before Maeda’s run, but 2:18 puts it pretty much out of range without a miracle. That’s not to say it’s not going to be a good race, with 2023 Asian Games gold medalist Eunice Chumba and sub-2:21 runner Delvine Meringor also up in position to keep it fast, and an exciting debut from sub-67 half marathoner Pauline Kamulu. Suzuki and Ando both come in off good half marathon performances in the last couple of weeks, so there’s a good chance either of them could translate that into a big marathon performance. The only question is how big.

Fuji TV will have the live broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. local time on Mar. 10. Check back closer to race date for more info.