|
Nov-14-2006
Takahashi Set to Defend Tokyo Title on Sunday
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
The Olympic Marathon gold medalist from Sydney in 2000, Naoko Takahashi, will try to win the Tokyo International Ladies Marathon for the second consecutive year on Sunday. She's got her work cut out for her.
Takahashi, 34, who has a personal best time of 2:19:46 set in Berlin in 2001, will have to beat back the challenges of five overseas athletes plus another eight Japanese women who have been invited to the race.
Her most formidible competitor will likely be Reiko Tosa, most recently third at the BAA Boston Marathon last April in 2:24:11, the IAAF World Championships silver medalist in the marathon in 2001. The 30 year-old Tosa, who has a career best time of 2:22:46 set at London in 2002, won Nagoya in 2004 and was second there in 2000. She knows the course at Tokyo, finishing second in 2000. Tosa has broken 2:25 five times and finished fifth at the 2004 Athens Olympic Marathon.
Zivile Balciunaite, 27, of Lithuania will be looking to mount the podium for the second time in two years at this race. She was second at Tokyo in 2005, setting a national record of 2:25:15, a more than two minute improvement over her previous best time. She was also fifth at Tokyo in 2004.
Balciunaite had a disappointing outing at the BAA Boston Marathon last April, fininishing tenth in 2:32:16, but finished fourth at the European Championships Marathon last August, just eight seconds out of the medals..
Serbian star Oliveira Jevtic will also be on the starting line, and at 170 cm (5'-6") is the tallest invited athlete in the field. She has a career best time of 2:25:23 set at Rotterdam in 2003, and won the silver medal at the European Championships Marathon last August.
Also in the hunt for victory will be American Jen Rhines who, in a recent interview at RunnersWorld.com said she hoped to run in the 2:25 to 2:26 range. Ethiopian Asha Gigi (2:26:05 PB) and Kenyan Mary Ptikany (2:29:45
PB) are also scheduled to start.
This will be the 28th edition of the race, and organizers expect about 440 women to start. The course record is 2:22:12 by Eri Yamaguchi set in 1999.
In addition to Takahashi, previous winners who were also Olympic medalists include Derartu Tulu, Joyce Chepchumba, Valentina Yegorova (twice), Rosa Mota, and Katrin Dörre (three times).
|
