Nyairo bags gold in marathon debut

Japan-based Kenyan Dominic Nyairo had to dig deep in his reserves to bag a win at the 52nd Hofu Yomiuri Marathon where he clocked 2:09.34 on a sprint finish to beat Japan's Daichi Kamino.

Making his debut, Nyairo had not been touted as a hot favourite as the race was seen as a fight between Kamino and former Hofu winner Arata Fujiwara. 

However, when the pacers dropped off at 30km, where they had held a steady pace to guide the leading pack to 1:04:47 through the halfway mark, Nyairo went in front. 

Kamino stayed with the Kenyan until Nyairo made a break at 41 km. It looked over, but in the home straight on the track Kamino found a sprint in himself and pulled even with Nyairo right before the line. Nyairo responded, just enough, and broke the tape by the narrowest of margins, both runners clocking 2:09:34.

It was a solid start for Nyairo's marathon career and enough to get 28-year-old Kamino into the still very short list of qualifiers for MGC II, the 2024 Olympic marathon trials. 

Elsewhere Kenya's Joan Chepkemoi finished third in 1:09.38 in the 40th Sanyo Ladies Road Race half marathon. Ethiopian Denso teammates Zeyituna Husan and Desta Burka ran side-by-side the entire way, clocking identical splits at every 5 km and both finishing in 1:09:31. Husan got the win and Burka second.

Steeplechase specialist Yumi Yoshikawa was the top Japanese woman at fifth in 1:10:07 after lasting with the lead ground through 15 km.

In the 10km women's race of the same event, it was a Kenyan sweep as the trio of Agnes Mwikali, Naomi Muthoni and Janet Nyiva broke Mwikali's 31:39 course record from last year, the 19-year-old Mwikali winning again in 31:11. 

Muthoni was second in 31:15, and 17-year-old Nyiva third in 31:21. Mwikali and Nyiva set the two fastest U-20 times in the world this year, with Nyiva's also the U-18 world leader.

Steeplechase specialist, Chikako Mori, was the fastest Japanese athlete here too, running 32:41 for 4th.

Additional information from Japan Running News