Gamera-Shmyrko bidding to be the first Osaka defending champion to win in 14 years/JPN – By Ken Nakamura

The champions from last three editions of Osaka Women’s Marathon – Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko, Risa Shigetomo and Yukiko Akba  – have returned to contest the IAAF Silver Label Road Race, which this year  doubles as a selection race for the 2014 Asian Games, on Sunday (26). 

Five runners – Katrin Dorre, Lidia Simon Lorraine Moller, Carey May and Yoko Shibui – have won the Osaka Women’s Marathon more than once.

Can one of this trio added her name to this list?

The favorite may be Ukraine’s defending champion Gamera-Shmyrko, who also finished second in 2012. 

Gamera-Shmyrko, fifth in the London 2012 Olympic Games but who dropped out of her last marathon, the 2013 New York Marathon, has returned full of optimism that she will bounce back after her disappointment in the Big Apple just under three months ago. This year, in her own words, she is in great shape.

Her main challenger may be local star Risa Shigetomo, who held off the challenge of Gamera-Shmyrko in 2012 to win with 2:23:23. 

However, after her breakthrough in the 2012 Osaka Women’s Marathon, Shigetomo has not run a good marathon. She finished 79^th in the 2012 Olympic Games with 2:40:06, 12^th in Hokkaido Marathon with a modest 2:51:55 and 11^th in New York Marathon with 2:31:54. 

Nevertheless, Shigetomo has shown good form over shorter distances recently. In the Queens’ Ekiden last month, she was second fastest in 10.9km stage with 35:55 and then in the Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden earlier this month, she was the fastest in the 10km stage with 31:50.

The third woman who has a chance to be a multiple winner is 34 year-old Yukiko Akaba, and the 2014 Osaka Women’s Marathon will be the final serious race of her career. 

Akaba won 2011 Osaka Women’s Marathon with 2:26:29, and ran the personal best of 2:24:09 in 2011 London Marathon, but she will also be remembered for her fifth place finish at 2011 World Championships in Daegu.

Ever since she decided to finish her top-level career in Osaka, Akaba has repeatedly said that she wants to finish her career with the win.

Yuko Watanabe, who was third last year with 2:25:56, is potentially one of the women who could spoil the top trio’s dreams of a repeat win.

There is a question mark over her recent form, she was only 34^th fastest in the 10km stage of Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden. However, Watanabe says her training since then had gone well and she feels that she can, at least, improve the personal best.

For Mari Ozaki, 37, who recorded a personal best of 2:23:30 in her marathon debut at 2003 Osaka Women’s Marathon, Sunday’s race will be her sixth outing in Osaka. In fact, the only other marathons she has run in her career are the 2010 London Marathon and the 2005 and 2007 IAAF World Championships, but since Ozaki still ran 2:26:41 for the fourth place last year, she should not be counted out. 

A lot of eyes will also be on Poland’s Karolina Jarzynska who, after finishing sixth in Osaka 12 months ago, reduced her personal best at the marathon to 2:26:45 in Lodz last April and set a Polish 10,000m record of 31:43.51 in Ostrava last summer, the latter being the fastest European time of the year over 25 laps of the track.

Ethiopia’s Marta Lema Megra may also be on the verge of a breakthrough. She ran three marathons in 2013 culminating with 2:28:02 for second place in Kosice Marathon and says that her goal for Sunday is to break 2:25. 

Great Britain’s Louise Damen recorded the personal best of 2:30:00 in 2011 London Marathon and her goal is to also to improve her personal best. Damen has received an advice about the course from her countrywoman and 2008 Osaka Women’s Marathon champion Mara Yamauchi.  

Other invited runners from abroad are Kenya’s Hellen Mugo, who recorded the personal best of 2:27:16 in Carpi in 2010, Russia’s Natalya Puchkova, who recorded her personal best of 2:30:17 in the 2012 Hannover Marathon, and Italy’s Deborah Toniols, who has a best of 2:28:31 although that was set back in 2006.   

 

Ken Nakamura 

 

 Invited runners for Osaka Women's Marathon on January 26

Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko (UKR)       2:23:58 2013 Osaka
Karolina Jarzynska (POL) 2:26:45    2013 Lodz
Marta Lema Megra (ETH) 2:28:02    2013 Kosice
Hellen Mugo (KEN) 2:27:16            2010 Carpi
Louise Damen (GBR) 2:30:00            2011 London
Natalya Puchkova (RUS) 2:30:17    2012 Hanover
Deborah Toniolo (ITA) 2:28:31            2006 Treviso

Domestic
Mizuki Noguchi 2:19:12     2005 Berlin
Risa Shigetomo    2:23:23    2012 Osaka
Mari Ozaki    2:23:30            2003 Osaka
Yukiko Akaba 2:24:09    2011 London
Yuko Watanabe 2:25:56    2013 Osaka
Hiroko Miyauchi 2:32:20    2009 Osaka
Sayo Nomura Debut 1:10:27 half marathon

2013 Athlete Of the Year (selected by Japan AAF)

Kayoko Fukushi bronze medalist in 2013 World Championships Marathon

Ryoko Kizaki          4th in marathon in 2013 WC
Hitomi Niiya           5th in 10000m in 2013 WC
Seito Yamamoto     6th in PV in 2013 WC

Rising star awards

Yoshihide Kiryu      10.01 100m as 17 years old
Haruka Sugiura 18 years old, won 400m with 52.52, second fastest in history
Takumi Saito 20 years old, sixth at 20KmWalk in 2013 WC

Kiryu also won special award for widely publicized by the media
 
Sanyo Women's Road Race (Half Marathon) on Dec 23
(the winner will be selected for the World Half Marathon)

Yukiko Akaba
Azusa Nojiri
Mai Ito
Yuko Watanabe
Rei Ohara
Aki Odagiri
Desiree Davila (USA)