Edesa Repeats, Kobayashi Breaks By way of at Osaka Girls’s Marathon

After breaking the CR with a 2:18:51 win ultimately 12 months’s Osaka Worldwide Girls’s Marathon, Ethiopian Workenesh Edesa was again as one in every of precisely 2 non-Japanese ladies within the elite subject at this 12 months’s race. Set as much as attempt to get no less than Paris Olympics Sixth-placer Yuka Suzuki underneath the two:20 barrier, Osaka went out slower than deliberate however nonetheless floor the sector down, solely Edesa, Suzuki, the debuting Nanaka Izawa and final month’s Hofu Yomiuri Marathon winner Kana Kobayashi left once they hit midway in 1:10:12.

The pacers instantly picked it up after midway to attempt to get it again on the right track, killing off Izawa and Kobayashi. Suzuki lasted by means of 25 km in 1:22:53, 2:19:53 tempo, however that was so far as she may go. The hole by no means actually grew that a lot, however for the remainder of the best way in Edesa pulled away from Suzuki, taking the win in 2:21:00 with out ever being underneath risk once more.

However there was some pleasure behind her. After shedding 35 seconds on Suzuki between midway and 30 km, Kobayashi began to make the bottom again up. By 40 km she was solely 16 seconds behind, and with lower than a kilometer to go, in sight of the stadium Kobayashi flew previous into 2nd. With the quickest break up within the subject after 40 km, 7:19, Kobayashi completed in 2:21:19, a PB by virtually 4 minutes.

And it isn’t like Suzuki had a foul race. third in 2:21:33, she took 2 and a half minutes off her PB too. A star runner in school at Daito Bunka College, her development within the marathon continues to impress:

2:25:02 – fifth, Nagoya Girls’s Marathon 2022 (age 22)

2:25:46 – Sixth, Nagoya Girls’s Marathon 2023 (age 23)

2:24:09 – 1st, Paris Olympics Marathon Trials 2023 (age 24)

2:24:02 – Sixth, Paris Olympics Marathon 2024 (age 24)

2:21:33 – third, Osaka Worldwide Girls’s Marathon 2025 (age 25)

However Kobayashi’s efficiency ranks her as essentially the most attention-grabbing factor taking place in Japanese marathoning proper now. At Waseda College she wasn’t even on the varsity’s monitor crew, operating for enjoyable and debuting in Osaka 2 years in the past. Her development since then, particularly since her commencement final spring and becoming a member of the Otsuka Seiyaku company crew, is much more spectacular:

2:36:54 – twenty first, Osaka Worldwide Girls’s Marathon 2023 (age 21)

2:54:45 – eleventh, Hokkaido Marathon 2023 (age 22)

2:29:44 – twelfth, Osaka Worldwide Girls’s Marathon 2024 (age 22)

2:24:59 – 1st, Hofu Yomiuri Marathon 2024 (age 23)

2:21:19 – 2nd, Osaka Worldwide Girls’s Marathon 2024 (age 23)