Naoko Takahashi after winning the 2005 Tokyo Women's Marathon (© Koichi Nakayama/Agence SHOT)
Japan’s Naoko Takahashi has accepted an invitation to defend her title at the Tokyo International Women’s Marathon on 19 November 2006.
The race will be one of the national trials to select the Japanese team to compete in Osaka, Japan at the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, 2007, and Takahashi, the 2000 Olympic champion, will be trying to book one of those Osaka team berths.
The 34-year-old who was lauded by the Japanese nation after her Olympic triumph in Sydney, made a dramatic comeback to top flight racing when winning last year’s 27th edition of the Tokyo race in a time of 2:24:39.
Takahashi’s personal best of 2:19:46 which she established when winning the 2001 Berlin marathon, the first ever sub 2:20 clocking by a woman, still places her as the seventh quickest woman all-time. She successfully defended her Berlin title the following year with another fast display of 2:21:49.
However, a 2:27:21 second place finish in Tokyo in the autumn of 2003, below par by her previously high standards, meant that she was left out of the team for Athens, and so was unable to defend her Olympic crown in 2004.
After taking on a new coach and sponsor in 2005, with renewed motivation Takahashi returned to Tokyo last year and found career salvation in her win.
Notably in this year’s Tokyo race she will be up against two top-8 place finishers from the 2004 Olympic Games, compatriot Reiko Tosa (5th) who was the 2001 World Championships silver medallist, and Serbia’s Olivera Jevtic (6th) the second place finisher at this summer’s European Championships.
Lithuania's Zivile Balciunaite, runner-up to Takahashi in Tokyo last year, in a national record of 2:25:15 is also named in the starting line-up.
Chris Turner for the IAAF
