Olympic selection Lake Biwa Daily marathon disappears, Osaka is upgraded –Land: Nikkan Sports

According to an interview with the people concerned, it was found on the 17th that the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon is being adjusted by disappearing from next year. It is said that the 76th tournament on February 28th next year will be the last. One of Japan’s three major marathons for men, which has produced many representatives as the final selection for the Olympics and world championships. However, in recent years, it has been pushed by the Tokyo Marathon, which has been recording good records, and its value has been questioned due to its poor topicality. It is said that the Osaka Marathon will be upgraded to the national team selection race in the future.

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Lake Biwa, which colored the history of the marathon and produced many representatives of the Olympics and world championships, marks the end of its history. The oldest surviving marathon in Japan that started in 1946. Along with Fukuoka International and Tokyo, it is one of the three major men’s marathons. However, according to people familiar with the matter, the race on February 28, next year, in which Tokyo Olympics representative Shogo Nakamura (28 = Fujitsu) and others are scheduled to participate, will be the last.

Lake Biwa Mainichi, which starts and ends at Ojiyama Athletics Stadium, was the final selection race for the world championships such as the Olympics and World Championships every year. Two representatives have been produced for both the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. In the 1964 and 1968 competitions of the predecessor, the Mainichi Marathon, all the top three were representatives of the Olympics. The final battle for the national team-. Many famous runners who repelled the pressure flew to the world.

It is a tournament where many famous games and traditions are accumulated, but recently it has been lacking in topicality. The background to the darkening of the situation was that the Tokyo Marathon changed course in 2017, making it easier to record. As Yuta Shitara (29 = Honda) renewed Japan in 2018 and Suguru Osako (29 = Nike) renewed Japan in 2008, the trend of top runners aiming for good times has taken root in Tokyo. As a result, Lake Biwa Mainichi was a tournament only for elite runners, but the players who could be the highlights were far away. The fact that the dates have completely overlapped with the Nagoya Women’s Marathon for the past two years has also contributed to the shadow. The way the tournament should be, including profitability, was being questioned.

Summarizing the stories of the people concerned, it is said that the Osaka Marathon will be the most promising to change to the representative selection race. This is the second largest marathon in Japan after Tokyo, and is an urban marathon with about 35,000 people running in Osaka. There is a high possibility that the signboard of the “representative selection meeting” will be added there.

The booming marathon world. The “Marathon Grand Championship (MGC)”, a representative selection event that included the element of “one-shot game” for the Tokyo Olympics, was a great success. The direction is to have a similar “one-shot selection” race for the 2012 Paris Olympics. Now is the transitional period of the era due to the corona wreck. The Japanese marathon world will also be reorganized and reformed to become more exciting.

▽68 year conference

The top three were selected to represent the Mexico City Olympics. The winner was Akio Usami, who set up around 35km, in 2 hours 13 minutes 49 seconds. Held in April, the temperature was 19 degrees Celsius, and it was a good time, 5th in Japan’s history (at that time). Yoshiaki Unetani was second at 2 hours 14 minutes 24 seconds, and Kenji Kimihara was third at 2 hours 14 minutes 46 seconds. Kimihara won the silver medal at the Olympics six months later.

▽88 Conference

Toshihiko Seko won the championship in 2 hours 12 minutes 41 seconds. In the same year, the ticket for the Seoul Olympics was hung, and Fukuoka International in December of the previous year was called a “one-shot game”, but Seko missed due to a previous breakdown. Takeyuki Nakayama also talked about his remark that he should come out. On the stage that became the “retest”, he showed a solo run of nearly 3 minutes from the following and became the representative.

▽03 year conference

Masakazu Fujiwara, a 21-year-old junior high school student, set a record of 2 hours 8 minutes 12 seconds for the first marathon in Japan. In 1991, Koichi Morishita’s conventional time was updated by 41 seconds. He was ranked 3rd among the top Japanese and was appointed as the representative of the World Championship Paris Tournament (declined due to breakdown). Fujiwara’s first marathon record remains even today as the speed increases.

▽12 years conference

The battle for the Japanese lead was entangled up to the track game. In the cold rain, Kentaro Nakamoto took the lead at around 38km. Ryo Yamamoto, who chased, passed Nakamoto with 400 meters remaining. Yamamoto in 4th place at 2 hours 8 minutes 44 seconds and Nakamoto in 5th place at 2 hours 8 minutes 53 seconds were both elected to represent the London Olympics. In London, Nakamoto made a good fight with 6th place.

▽18 years conference

Shogo Nakamura of the first marathon was the top 7 Japanese in 2 hours 10 minutes 51 seconds. Participation conditions for the Tokyo Olympics representative selection meeting MGC are within 2 hours 11 minutes 0 seconds. The breakthrough seemed to be tough, but Komazawa’s teacher, Oyagi, told him that he had “5 seconds left” at the last 500 meters, and he was a fierce spurt. This was an opportunity for growth, and he won the MGC and ran up to the Tokyo Olympics.

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