Press Conference Highlight: Nagoya Women’s Marathon/Japan 2025 Invited Elite Athletes

2024 NYC Champion Sheila Chepkirui and 2019 Tokyo Champion Ruti Aga are well prepared for a high-speed competition on Sunday. Japanese Rika Kaseda and Rino Goshima show ambitions to qualify for World Athletics Championships Tokyo in September.

With the race just around the corner on Sunday, March 9, the Nagoya Women’s Marathon held a pre-race media conference for invited elite athletes today in Nagoya, Japan, and some of the world’s fastest women runners shared their goals for the competition. The event promised excitement on Sunday not only for the runners but for sports fans around the world.

Sheila CHEPKIRUI of Kenya, 2024 TCS New York City Marathon Champion said, “My preparation was good. On Sunday, I want to do well with a strong mind, never giving up until I cross the finish line, like the proverb, ‘Never say it’s over until it’s over.’” Her competitor and 2019 Tokyo Marathon Champion, Ruti AGA of Ethiopia said, “My goal is to break my personal best of 2:18:09.”

For Japanese athletes, the Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2025 will be the last chance to qualify for the 2025 World Athletics Championships Tokyo in September. Rika KASEDA, who represented the country in the marathon at the 2023 World Championships, commented, “My goal is to finish under 2:20 and secure a spot in the national team. My strength is powerful running, and I want to use it and stay resilient after 30 km.” while Rino GOSHIMA, 2024 Paris Olympian in the 10000m, expressed her strong determination for her first marathon, saying “I will keep challenging myself and push beyond my limits until the very end.”

In addition to these world’s top elite athletes, the Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2025 will welcome 20,000 women runners who love the sport from home and abroad. All finishers will be presented with an event’s exclusively designed crystal tumbler from Baccarat and a T-shirt from New Balance as the finisher prize.

Start of the Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2024 – Photo: Nagoya Women’s Marathon

Sunday’s race will be streamed live free of charge to 37 countries and regions (Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Myanmar, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, and United States of America) on the race’s official website at https://womens-marathon.nagoya/en/broadcast.php. Please look forward to the race to start at 9:10 a.m. on Sunday, March 9, 2025, Japan time!

For more information about the Nagoya Women’s Marathon, please visit:
https://womens-marathon.nagoya/en/

About the Nagoya Women’s Marathon
The Nagoya Women’s Marathon is the largest women’s marathon in the world, certified by Guinness World Records with 21,915 participants in 2018, held annually in March in Nagoya City, Japan. It was launched on March 11, 2012, with 13,114 participants, reformed from the Nagoya International Women’s Marathon, the elite-only women’s race known as the qualifying trial that had sent off many Japanese star athletes to the international competitions, including two Olympic gold medalists Naoko Takahashi and Mizuki Noguchi. It holds the World Athletics Platinum Label status and has now grown to an event of 20,000 participants.

For playing a significant role in the increase of the women runner population in Japan, the race was awarded the International Olympic Committee Women and Sport Achievement Diploma in 2019, after receiving the Japan Olympic Committee Women and Sport Award in 2017.

For further information, please contact:
Nagoya Women’s Marathon Administrative Office
1-6-1 Sannomaru, Naka-ku
Nagoya 460-8511 Japan
Email: nagoyawomensmarathon@gmail.com
website http://Website: https://womens-marathon.nagoya/en/