Hitomi Shintani, a women's marathoner, won the Houston Marathon held in the United States on the 15th with a preliminary time of 2 hours 19 minutes 24 seconds, the second best record in Japan.

The 34-year-old Niiya is a Japanese record holder for the women's half marathon and 10,000 meters, and competed in the women's 10,000 meters at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago.



She has been re-challenging the marathon since last year, and on the 15th she participated in the Houston Marathon held in Texas, USA.



Niiya took the lead with her signature aggressive race run and crossed the halfway point faster than Mizuki Noguchi, who set a Japanese record of 2:19:12 at the 2005 Berlin Marathon. Did.



After that, she continued to run tenaciously at a faster pace than the Japanese record, but after the pacemaker came off in the final stages, she slowed down slightly and finished with a preliminary time of 2 hours 19 minutes 24 seconds.



She fell short of Shintani's Japanese record by just 12 seconds, but she won with the second best record in Japan's history.



The previous record of 2:19:41 was set by Yoko Shibui at the 2004 Berlin Marathon.



After the race, Shintani said, "Although it was difficult, the cheering pushed her back, and she was able to enjoy the run from start to finish."