Osaka International Women\’s Preview – by Brett Larner

The race to make the Japanese team for August's London World Championships continues Sunday at the Osaka International Women's Marathon.  

Snakebitten in recent years by the presence of Eastern European women associated with disgraced Russian agent Andrey Baranov, Osaka has noticeably toned down its international component this year.  Rio Olympian Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) leads the field, her 2:24:42 best the fastest time of any woman in the race over the last three years and nearly a minute ahead of Ethiopian-born Shitaye Habtegebrel (Bahrain).  2012 Osaka winner Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya) and last year's Gold Coast Airport Marathon course record-breaker Misato Horie (Team Noritz) make up Ito's main front end competition, where they will have to break 2:22:30 and be the top Japanese woman to be guaranteed a spot on the London team.

That's not an impossible task.  Last year Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) did it, winning outright in 2:22:17, but Ito, Shigetomo, Horie and others are not exactly up to the same level of ability as half marathon national record holder Fukushi.  More likely they will be chasing the JAAF's B-criteria for making London, finishing within the first three Japanese women with an aggressive race to stay in range of the overall winner.  Young talents Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido), Misaki Kato (Team Kyudenko) and Hanae Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) are pretty good bets to factor into that sort of race, Takenaka and Kato poised for breakthroughs after ambitious running in Osaka last year and Tanaka, a training partner of Rio Olympian Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei), making her serious marathon debut after an easy 2:42:23 tuneup win at December's Kakogawa Marathon.  Already in the ring for possible London selection after winning August's Hokkaido Marathon, Kaori Yoshida (Team RxL) will be looking to erase the black mark next to her name from a bad run at November's Saitama International Marathon selection race.

Habtegebrel is the only international to have broken 2:27 in the last three years, meaning the front Japanese women are not likely to have much company once the pacers bow out.  Other overseas runners include Iwona Lewandowska (Poland), Muluhabt Tsega (Ethiopia), Serena Burla (U.S.A.), Cassie Fien (Australia), Ling-Ling Jin (China) and Munkhzaya Bayartsogt (Mongolia).

The Osaka International Women's Marathon will be broadcast live on Fuji TV starting at 12:00 noon Japan time.  International viewers may be able to watch live streaming via mov3.co.

36th Osaka International Women's Marathon
Elite Field Highlights
Osaka, 1/29/17