Skip to main content

Wanjiru Withdraws From Sapporo Half Marathon

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/090701/oth0907012032021-n1.htm

translated by Brett Larner

Beijing Olympics men's marathon gold medalist and half marathon world record holder Samuel Wanjiru (Team Savas) of Kenya has withdrawn from the July 5 Sapporo International Half Marathon, the race's office announced on July 1. Wanjiru, who won April's London Marathon, was to be Sapporo's feature invited athlete but recently told race officials that he is dealing with the affects of accumulated fatigue and cannot race.

Comments

Brett Larner said…
I knew the Wanjiru-Mogusu matchup was too good to be true....
Simon Phillips said…
Disappointing news. Brett, any predictions for the match-up between Mogusu and Sato? What are Fujiwara's chances in this race?

Very much looking forward to the women's race as well.
Brett Larner said…
Well, ordinarily I would say Sato has no chance against Mogusu. He's the Japanese record holder but his best time is still 45 sec or so slower than Mogusu's. This time, though, Mogusu is coming off the car accident in Feb., so it's unclear what kind of shape he's going to be in. Mogusu may be vulnerable but Sato is in marathon training mode and from what he's said in interviews he's focusing on the WC, not the tuneup races he's doing. I guess I don't really see him challenging for the win unless Mogusu is way off.

Fujiwara doesn't have the kind of half time you'd expect from his full marathon, so he would need to have a great day to be up front. I think Yu Mitsuya could be more of a factor if he's uninjured. One thing about Sapporo, though, is that the names which have been announced are only the invited elites. There will be scores of other jitsugyodan runners there, probably including some of the Africans, so some of them might be up there as well.

Agreed that the women's race should be good. Is Shibui back in one piece? We'll see. Curious also to see what Natsuko Goto can do against all the pros.
Brett Larner said…
I forgot to mention Daniel Gitau. So far he's never really been close to Mogusu over this kind of distance, but will all the middle distance track races he did this spring and the quadruple win (800m, 1500m, 5000m and 10000m) at the Kanto Championships in May he's faster than ever and could be the man.

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters