Yurika Nakamura, marathon debutante, wins Nagoya Women’s Marathon – Takahashi is out for Beijing?

Surging away from her competitions at 32.5Km, Yurika Nakamura convincingly won today’s 29th Nagoya Women’s Marathon in 2:25:51. The event is an IAAF Silver Label Road Race.

Nakamura’s performance thus made a case to be included in the Japanese Olympic marathon team. There is one problem, though. Her time was slower than 2:25:34, the time recorded by Tomo Morimoto in the 2008 Osaka Ladies Marathon in January. However, Nakamura won the race, while Moritomo finished second to Mara Yamauchi in Osaka. Furthermore, Nakamura covered 30Km to 35Km in 16:31, 35Km to 40Km in 16:44 and 40Km to finish in 7:13.

These times are faster than the corresponding time by Morimoto in Osaka. With Reiko Tosa, pre-selected, and Mizuki Noguchi almost assured on the team spot, the JAAF will be discussing the merits of Nakamura and Morimoto tomorrow to decide the third member of the Japanese women’s Olympic marathon team. Interestingly, both Nakamura and Morimoto run for the Tenmaya track team, whose runners – Eri Yamaguchi and Naoko Sakamoto – have finished seventh in the last two Olympic Games.