Sheila Chepkirui beats Sayaka Sato by two seconds to keep her Nagoya title
The New York champion won the world's largest women-only marathon in 2:21:54 on a cold, windy day, with Japan's Olympic selection places at stake.
Photograph: Sheila Chepkirui in the elite women's race at the 2024 London Marathon, by Katie Chan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSheila Chepkirui defended her Nagoya Women's Marathon title on Sunday in 2:21:54, two seconds ahead of Japan's Sayaka Sato. Sato was second here last year too. It was 9 C at the start with a steady wind the whole way round, and the times showed it: Chepkirui's best is 2:17:29.
Eight women went through 10 km together in 33:10. Six were left at halfway in 1:10:51 and five at 30 km in 1:41:12: Chepkirui, Sato, Ethiopia's Aynalem Desta, Rika Kaseda and Natsuki Omori. Omori went with about 7 km left, then Kaseda and Desta lost touch, and the last kilometres were two women side by side until Chepkirui pulled clear near the end. Desta was third in 2:22:37, Kaseda fourth in 2:22:53 and Omori fifth in 2:23:45. Sora Shinozakura, Rino Goshima and Australia's Genevieve Gregson filled sixth to eighth.
The Japanese runners had more than prize money on the line. Nagoya is a qualifier for the Marathon Grand Championship, Japan's selection race for the 2028 Olympics, and the standard was 2:23:30, or a top-six Japanese finish under 2:27:00. Sato, Kaseda and Omori cleared it.
Nagoya is a World Athletics Platinum Label race and, with 17,101 finishers, the largest women-only marathon in the world. Chepkirui said the wind was strong and she had to stay mentally strong to the end. Sato said losing a sprint is hard, but she had run a good race. Both were right.
Sources: World Athletics; World Athletics.
