Skip to main content

An Update on Eastern European Women in Japan

by Brett Larner

The 4th-place finish by Volha Mazuronak of Belarus at last weekend's London Marathon turned heads around the world.  Her time of 2:23:54 may become a national record pending the annulment of times run by Belarussian Alexsandra Duliba following January's announcement of Duliba's suspension on biological passport violations.  New York Road Runners professional athlete consultant David Monti was quick to point out Mazuronak's splits, a 1:13:19 first half, 1:10:35 second half and 7:08 for the final 2.195 km split from 40 km to the finish, the fastest closing split in the London women's field and on a par with or better than the 6th through 10th-place men there.  Mara Yamauchi, the second-fastest British woman ever in the marathon, wrote an analysis noting the similarity between Mazuronak's splits and those in a 2012 JRN analysis of performances by Eastern European women represented by Russian Andrey Baranov and his Spartanik agency.

Baranov also represented Duliba, who recorded the following performance, facing possible annulment, at the 2014 Boston Marathon:

Aleksandra Duliba/BLR - 6th, 2014 Boston Marathon - 2:21:29
1st half: 1:10:15
2nd half: 1:11:14
last 2.195km: 7:17 (2nd-fastest in field behind only suspended doper Rita Jeptoo)

Below is an update to JRN's 2012 post with other performances by Eastern European Baranov athletes in major Japanese marathons since 2012.  As noted, all but one, the slowest one, have been annulled due to biological passport suspensions.  Mazuronak's second half and closing split were truly remarkable in that they beat those in every performance below.  Coincidentally, she is also represented by Baranov.

Mariya Konovalova/RUS (age 40) - 2nd, 2015 Nagoya Women's Marathon - 2:22:27 (annulled)
1st half: 1:11:08
2nd half: 1:11:19
last 2.195 km: 7:22 (2nd-fastest in field behind only Japanese collegiate NR holder Sairi Maeda)

Tetiana Gamera/UKR - 1st, 2015 Osaka Women's Marathon - 2:22:09 (annulled)
1st half: 1:11:15
2nd half: 1:10:54
last 2.195 km: 7:18 (fastest in field)

Mariya Konovalova/RUS - 1st, 2014 Nagoya Women's Marathon - 2:23:43 (annulled)
1st half: 1:12:34
2nd half: 1:11:09
last 2.195 km: 7:13 (fastest in field)

Tetiana Gamera/UKR - 1st, 2014 Osaka Women's Marathon - 2:24:37 (annulled)
1st half: 1:12:12
2nd half: 1:12:25 
last 2.195 km: 7:26 (fastest in field)

Albina Mayorova/RUS - 1st, 2013 Yokohama Women's Marathon - 2:25:55
1st half: 1:13:45
2nd half: 1:12:10
last 2.195 km: 7:43 (fastest in field)

Tetiana Gamera/UKR - 1st, 2013 Osaka Women's Marathon - 2:23:58 (annulled)
1st half: 1:11:40
2nd half: 1:12:18
last 2.195 km: 7:14 (fastest in field)

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

CK said…
Thanks for this report. Another Baranov-related story that, as ever, didn't seem to make it into the mainstream athletics press. Please be assured that there are readers who appreciate JRN's input/efforts on this topic...
May 4, 2016 at 11:27 PM
Brett Larner said…
Thanks, CK.

For those who are interested, about 12 hours after posting this story JRN suffered a 3-day DDOS attack, the longest and biggest in JRN's 9-year history. Apologies for any interruptions to regularly-scheduled service.
May 4, 2016 at 11:55 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis
Post a Comment
Read more

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43
Post a Comment
Read more

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half
Post a Comment
Read more