Getachew Masresha wins Beppu-Oita in 2:06:49, student Asahi Kuroda third
The Ethiopian broke a 20-man pack inside the last 10 km; Yuya Yoshida and student Asahi Kuroda led six Japanese men into the LA Olympic trials.
Photograph: Beppu Bay from Beppu Onsen in Oita prefecture, the coast the marathon runs along, by 663highland, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia CommonsThe 74th Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon on Sunday was run the way Japanese marathons are run: a big pack behind pacers at just under three minutes a kilometre, then a fight. About 20 men went through 30 km together in 1:29:45, on course for 2:06:15. Inside the last 10 km Getachew Masresha of Ethiopia went to the front. Takato Suzuki, a debutant, followed for a while and was let go. Asahi Kuroda, the Aoyama Gakuin University student who set the collegiate marathon record and broke the Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage record a month ago, chased about ten seconds back and pulled a group of five with him.
They never closed it. Masresha won in 2:06:49, his first time under 2:07. Over the last 5 km only Kuroda and Yuya Yoshida of GMO were left chasing, and at 40 km Yoshida surged while Kuroda was taking a drink. Yoshida was second in 2:06:59, Kuroda third in 2:07:03, Sota Fukutani fourth in 2:07:11.
Six places in the Japanese trials for the Los Angeles Olympic marathon were on offer, and the Japanese men ran for them. Yoshida, Kuroda, Fukutani, Hiroto Inoue (2:07:36), Kiyoshi Koga (2:07:46) and Chuo University's Itta Tameike, seventh overall in 2:07:59 on his debut, took them. Kento Kikutani, 2:08:17, was the seventh Japanese finisher and missed out.
The women's field was amateur, and Chika Yokota won it in a personal best 2:43:45.
A university student ran 2:07:03 and finished third. That is the state of Japanese marathoning in 2026.
Sources: Japan Running News; My Best Runs.
