Ruth Chepngetich's record remains as Yuka Ando wins in Nagoya

Organisers had predicted a possible course record when the 2024 Nagoya Women's Marathon happens on Sunday 10 March but that was never to be. 

Ruth Chepngetich's course record of 2:17:18 in 2022; that time being the second-fastest ever women-only marathon behind the 2:17:01 run by Mary Keitany in London in 2017, was under threat with 2022 world champion Gotytom Gebreslase on the field.

However, the 2:18:11 runner had a bad day in office, dropping off the race after the 35km as home girl Yuka Ando won the race in a personal-best time of 2:21:18. 

The 29-year-old was unable to secure a place on the Japanese Olympic team, however, having needed to beat the national record of 2:18:59 set by Honami Maeda at the Osaka Women's Marathon in January.

Ando was neck-and-neck with Bahrain's Eunice Chumba from around the 39-km mark before pulling away from the eventual runner-up near the finish line at Vantelin Dome Nagoya. Japan's Ayuko Suzuki was third.

"I wasn't able to make it to Paris, but I'm really happy to win today," Ando said. "By the end, I wanted to win badly and gave it everything I had."

Gebreslase set the pace alongside Chumba for much of the event before pulling out for reportedly, leg trouble with roughly 6 km left to run.

"It was tough when I was behind in the middle of the race, but I just looked ahead and kept chasing without giving up," Ando said.

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Additional information by Kyodo