The athletes who qualified for the marathon selection race for the Paris Olympics to be held in October were decided, and 10 athletes including Suguru Osako, who finished sixth at the Tokyo Games, qualified for the men's race, and 6 athletes, including Mao Ichiyama, who finished eighth at the Tokyo Games, qualified for the women's race.
The MGC = Marathon Grand Championship will be contested on a course that starts and finishes at the National Stadium on October 10, and if both men and women finish in second place, they will be selected as the marathon representative for the Paris Olympics on the spot.
MGC qualification was to be obtained from November 15 to May 2 of last month if the marathon conditions such as records and rankings set by the Japan Athletics Federation were met.
As a result, a total of 11 athletes qualified for the men's race, including Osako, who finished sixth at the Tokyo Games, Kengo Suzuki, the Japan record holder, and Kazuki Yamashita, who set the third best time in Japan history at the Tokyo Marathon in March.
On the other hand, Takugo Nakamura and Yuma Hattori, who represented Japan at the Tokyo Games, did not qualify for the tournament.
Mao Ichiyama
A total of 8 athletes qualified for the women's event, including Ichiyama, who finished eighth at the Tokyo Games, Honan Maeda and Ayuko Suzuki, who both represented the Tokyo Games, and Mizuo Matsuda, who finished ninth at last year's World Championships.
Hitomi Shintani Japan who finished second in the marathon in January also qualified, but Shintani has made it clear that she will not participate in the MGC.
NHK will broadcast the women's race at MGC.