Reiko Tosa leads Naoko Takahashi in Tokyo. © www.photorun.net

Naoko Takahashi missed qualifying for the World Championships next August in Osaka at the Tokyo Marathon. The Japanese star managed only third place in the capital, clocking a disappointing 2:31:22 hours in the race she entered as the defending champion. Takahashi become an idol in Japan after winning the Olympic marathon gold in Sydney in 2000 and clocking the first women’s sub-2:20 marathon in Berlin a year later (2:19:46). Tokyo’s winner was another Japanese: Reiko Tosa, who placed fifth in the Olympic marathon in 2004 in Athens. She clocked 2:26:15, which might still not be enough for qualifying for Osaka.

For a guaranteed nomination for the Japanese marathon team, a sub-2:26 was required. Tosa now has to wait for the results of the other qualifying races, in Osaka in January and in Nagoya in March. Nagoya could perhaps provide a second chance for Takahashi.

At first, a fast race developed, and the leading group of this women-only elite marathon reached halfway in 1:10:53. Soon after that, the expected duel between Takahashi and Tosa developed, but already by 31 kilometers, Takahashi could no longer stand the pace and dropped back. Owing to strong winds and rain, the pace slowed.

While Akemi Ozaki passed Takahashi for second place in 2:28:51, there was no danger for 30-year-old Tosa. Apart from her debut in Osaka in 1997, where she clocked 2:31:32, this was Takahashi’s slowest marathon performance.

Top-Quality 15K in Holland

Meanwhile, 20,000 runners participated in Holland’s Zevenheuvelenloop, a 15K that always has a high-class field. By the finish, Micah Kogo showed his enormous potential once again. The 20-year-old Kenyan, who ran a world-leading 10,000 meters in August of 26:35.63 minutes, prevailed on the roads in 42:42.

Kogo, the sixth-fastest 10,000m runner ever, finished just one second ahead of Abebe Dinkessa (Ethiopia) in Nijmegen. Bernard Kipyego (Kenya) and 20-kilomteter world champion Zersenay Tadesse (Eritrea) both finished one more second back.

In the women’s race, Ethiopia’s Mestewat Tufa surprised her countrywoman Gete Wami. The winner of the Berlin Marathon in September reached the finish line nine seconds behind Tufa, who clocked 47:22. Edith Masai, former multiple world cross country champion, took third in 49:02.