Ruth Chepngetich spoke confidently at the Nagoya Women’s Marathon press conference, explaining that her primary goal for the World Athletics Platinum Label road race on Sunday (12) will be to defend her title and break her own course record.
Last year, the 2019 world champion broke the course record by more than three minutes, clocking 2:17:18.
It was only 10 seconds slower than her personal best at the time, but she went on to win the Chicago Marathon later that year in 2:14:18, the second-fastest time in history and only 14 seconds slower than the world record.
The 28-year-old Kenyan made no mention of attempting the world record again on Sunday, but she made it clear that she intends to win.
“I’m happy to be back in Nagoya,” she said. “My condition is good, and my target for Sunday is to defend my title with a course record.”
Chepngetich has only raced twice since winning in Chicago last October.
She ran 1:07:53 to finish third in the Jeddah Half Marathon in December, and then 31:39 to finish second in the Jaen 10km in January.
Both performances were a little short of her PB form for those distances, but whenever Chepngetich takes to the start line for a marathon, she is usually in good enough shape to win.
She has won seven of the nine marathons she has completed to date.
Compatriot Nancy Jelagat, who set a PB of 2:19:31 in her last race, the 2021 Valencia Marathon, will keep her on her toes.
Despite not racing in over a year, the Kenyan’s personal bests of 30:50 for 10km and 1:05:21 for the half marathon demonstrate her ability.
Ayuko Suzuki, who represented Japan at the Olympics in Tokyo, is the country’s hope.
She set a personal best of 2:22:02 at last year’s Berlin Marathon after finishing second in Japan’s Olympic trial race and 19th overall.
“I want to reach my fullest potential and improve my PB,” she said.
Fellow Olympian Honami Maeda, meanwhile, added: “I want to run under 2:24 and qualify for the selection race for Japan’s marathon team for the Paris Olympics.”
Other leading Japanese contenders include Mao Uesugi, Mizuki Tanimoto and Yuka Suzuki.
Australian duo Eloise Wellings and Isobel Batt-Doyle are also among the entries, along with China’s Li Zhixuan and Zhang Xinyan.
The Nagoya Women’s Marathon offers the world’s highest first prize of US$250,000. For the first time in four years, the race will have a mass field as the Japanese government finally lifted its Covid-related border restrictions last year.
