Ugandan distance runner Stella Chesang (© AFP / Getty Images)
Stella Chesang broke away in the closing stages of the Osaka Women’s Marathon on Sunday (25) to triumph convincingly in 2:19:31, becoming the first Ugandan woman to win a World Athletics Platinum Label marathon.
The national record-holder waited until the final two kilometres to make her decisive move, leading three other women inside 2:20.
Chesang, the 2018 Commonwealth 10,000m champion, ran as part of a sizeable lead group through the early kilometres, with defending champion Workenesh Edesa, Ethiopia’s Bedatu Hirpa, Japan’s Mizuki Matsuda, Mao Uesugi, Nanaka Izawa and marathon debutante Mikuni Yada all together through 5km in 16:44 and 10km in 33:16.
Izawa began to drift off the back of the pack just before 15km, while Matsuda started to lose contact shortly before 17km. By 20km (1:06:30), six athletes remained at the front with Izawa still clinging on and Matsuda already 31 seconds adrift. The leading six reached halfway in 1:10:13, with Uesugi and Izawa briefly dropping off before regaining the group.
Izawa then lost touch for good before 25km, leaving a leading quartet of Yada, Edesa, Chesang and Hirpa at 25km in 1:22:59, with Uesugi and Izawa chasing. The pacemakers stepped aside at 30km (1:39:21), after which Yada helped lift the tempo.
The front pack began to break up after about 38km, and by 40km Chesang had edged to the front, passing that checkpoint in 2:12:23 with Hirpa, Edesa and Yada stacked tightly behind. Yada soon swept past Hirpa and Edesa, but Chesang reasserted control and led a trio at 41km before closing strongly to secure the win.
Chesang, who finished 12th in the marathon at last year’s World Championships, crossed the line in 2:19:31, with Hirpa second in 2:19:54 and Edesa third in 2:19:56. Yada finished just one second further back in 2:19:57, the fastest marathon debut ever by a Japanese woman, elevating her to sixth on the national all-time list.
With help from Ken Nakamura
Leading results
1 Stella Chesang (UGA) 2:19:31
2 Bedatu Hirpa (ETH) 2:19:54
3 Workenesh Edesa (ETH) 2:19:56
4 Mikuni Yada (JPN) 2:19:57
5 Mao Uesugi (JPN) 2:23:07
6 Rie Kawauchi (JPN) 2:24:16
7 Mizuki Matsuda (JPN) 2:16:16
8 Nanaka Izawa (JPN) 2:27:45
