Honami Maeda and Mao Ichiyama, who have been nominated to represent the women's marathon of the Tokyo Olympics, participated in the half marathon race held in Okayama prefecture, and Ichiyama ranked third among the top Japanese athletes. Maeda was in 9th place.
Of the three women's marathon officials, Maeda won the national selection race last September, and Ichiyama won the last one at the "Nagoya Women's Marathon" in March.
On the 20th, the two participated in a half marathon race that started and finished at the stadium in Okayama City.
As the race slowed down from the beginning, Ichiyama actively moved forward with two African players around 2km, greatly widening the gap with the following group including Maeda and others. It was.
However, when the African players increased their pace after 15km, Ichiyama could not keep up and finished in 3rd place at the top of the Japanese players, but the time was nearly one and a half minutes slower than his personal best. It was 1 hour 10 minutes 17 seconds.
Maeda, on the other hand, was in 9th place at 1 hour 10 minutes 39 seconds, behind the following group at around 18 km.
The two are scheduled to participate in the "Osaka International Ladies Marathon" next month.
The winner was Zeitna Fusan, who is from Ethiopia and belongs to a Japanese businessman, with a time of 1 hour 9 minutes 24 seconds.
"Personal best" at the Ichiyama Osaka International Marathon
Mao Ichiyama, who finished third in the half marathon race, couldn't update his personal best, which he had been aiming for, and said at the beginning of the post-race press conference, "I'm disappointed."
Regarding the bargaining with African players, "I think there will be a lot of bargaining like that in various competitions from now on. I was tired of my legs when I was set up, and I thought that the place I couldn't put on was still weak. I said.
Regarding Maeda, he said, "I wasn't so conscious of it, but it's good for me to run together."
On top of that, regarding next month's Osaka International Ladies Marathon, he said, "I want to run in the 2 hours and 19 minutes range. I think that I can run with confidence in the Olympics by running at my best", and my personal best of 2 hours 20 We have set a goal of updating minutes 29 seconds.
Maeda "I was able to run more about the group than I expected"
Maeda, who finished in 9th place, said that the race was not in good condition and said, "I wasn't feeling so well and I tried to check my current condition. About the group than I expected. I was able to run, "he said with a dry look.
In addition, regarding the existence of Ichiyama, he said, "I can work hard with a good rivalry," and for the Osaka International Ladies Marathon, "I think it will be a fast race, so I want to make use of the part that has strengthened the speed. It's been a long time since the marathon, so I want to experience the feeling of racing and connect it to the Olympics. "