Home pride will be at stake in the World Marathon Cup, where host Japan will also seek their third consecutive team title. Wataru Okutani (2:08:49 PB) and Toshinari Suwa (2:07:55 PB) lead the squad.
Leading a fairly inexperienced U.S. team is 42-year-old Kenyan-born Mbarak Hussein who’ll be making his first appearance in a team USA vest. Hussein, who became a U.S. citizen in 2004, has a 2:08:10 career best from that year.
As expected, the conditions will be sultry, with daytime temperatures currently expected to reach a high of 34 C. (94 F.). In hot conditions, the championship record of 2:08:31, set by Gharib in Paris in 2003, won't be threatened. A more likely scenario will be one similar to the last time the championships were held in Japan. At the 6 a.m. start --the Osaka gun will sound at 7-- the mercury was already at 26 C. in Tokyo, with 73 percent humidity. Japan's Hiromi Taniguchi was the winner in 2:14:57, the slowest winning time ever at the world championships. Steve Spence, just 26th at the midway point, wound up finishing third, the only world championships medal ever won by an America male in the marathon.
Women's Race
With defending champion and world record holder Paula Radcliffe not yet ready to compete after her return from maternity leave, there won’t be a repeat in the women’s contest which begins the program on the final day of competition (Sept. 2), but there could be a return winner. 2003 champion Catherine Ndereba, second two years ago in Helsinki, leads a formidable Kenyan squad as it aims to defend its World Marathon Cup title. No woman has won a world title twice in the marathon.
Ndereba hasn’t contested a marathon this year, but tuned up for Osaka with a runner-up finish at the NYC Half Marathon on August 5, dipping under 1:11.
Most eyes will be on China’s Zhou Chunxiu, who returns to action after her solid 2:20:38 victory in London in April, and is arguably the favorite. The 28-year-old, fifth in Helsinki two years ago, has a career best 2:19:51 from Seoul in 2006. Others standing in Ndereba’s way iare Russian Galina Bogomolova, who last fall lowered the Russian national record to 2:20:47 with her runner-up finish at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, and Mexican hope Madai Perez, who also made waves in the Chicago race with her 2:22:59 national record. Other podium prospects include Romanian Constantina Tomescu, who’s clocked 2:23:55 this year, and Kenyan Rita Jeptoo.
Here too tremendous home turf pride is at stake. Japanese women have captured four of the last five team titles, and playing a key role in recapturing the crown on home soil will be Reiko Tosa (2:22:46), the winner in Tokyo last year, and the runner-up in Edmonton six years ago.
71 women from 32 countries are provisionally entered.
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