FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
World's Best Women Athletes to Compete in Nagoya Women's Marathon 2023
Defending Champion Ruth Chepngetich to return to defend her title
Runners will compete for the first prize of US$250,000
The Nagoya Women's Marathon announced today the world's best women athletes
who will compete in the 12th edition race to be held on Sunday, March 12,
2023. The top name in the elite field is defending champion Ruth
Chepngetich of Kenya, who ran the second-fastest women's marathon in
history in 2:14:18 in Chicago last October, after recording the
second-fastest ever women-only marathon in Nagoya in March in 2:17:18 to
become the first female athlete to win the largest first-prize in the world
of marathon running.
Other stars in the field include Nancy Jelagat Meto of Kenya with a
personal best record under 2 hours 20 minutes, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Marathon
Bronze Medallist Molly Seidel of USA, and many others who have achieved
outstanding performances at international competitions representing
Australia, Germany, China, Puerto Rico, and South Korea.
The Japanese local athletes who will join the competition are led by Tokyo
Olympians in the women's marathon Ayuko Suzuki and Honami Maeda, as well as
Mao Uesugi and Mizuki Tanimoto, who renewed their personal best records at
the Osaka Women's Marathon 2022, and Yuka Suzuki, who set the new Japanese
student record in 2:25:02 in Nagoya last year. In addition, many Japanese
athletes with high-level performances, including Chiharu Ikeda, Mirai Waku,
and Ayano Ikemitsu, will also challenge the world's top runners.
In addition to being the largest women's marathon in the world and the only
all-women World Athletics Platinum label road race, the Nagoya Women's
Marathon has become the marathon event with the largest first prize in the
marathon running, US$250,000 since 2022. All finishers of the race will
receive an exclusively designed Tiffany & Co. pendant. The 2023 race will
be held fully open to both domestic and international runners for the first
time in three years, after the Japanese government has lifted the
Covid-related border restrictions.
Invited Elite Athletes: Nagoya Women's Marathon 2023
Name Nationality Personal Best
Ruth Chepngetich Kenya 2:14:18
Nancy Jelagat Meto Kenya 2:19:31
Ayuko Suzuki Japan 2:22:02
Mao Uesugi Japan 2:22:29
Mizuki Tanimoto Japan 2:23:11
Honami Maeda Japan 2:23:30
Molly Seidel USA 2:24:42
Yuka Suzuki Japan 2:25:02
Eloise Wellings Australia 2:25:10
Katharina Steinruck Germany 2:25:59
Zhixuan Li China 2:26:15
Xinyan Zhang China 2:26:56
Deshun Zhang China 2:27:01
Isobel Batt-Doyle Australia 2:28:10
For a complete list of competitors in the Nagoya Women's Marathon 2023
Elite Field, please visit:
https://womens-marathon.nagoya/en/news/20230216-1430
For more information about the Nagoya Women's Marathon, please visit:
https://womens-marathon.nagoya/en
About Nagoya Women's Marathon
The Nagoya Women's Marathon is the largest women's marathon in the world
certified by Guinness World Records, held annually in March in Nagoya city,
Japan. It was launched on March 11, 2012, with 13,114 participants,
reformed from the Nagoya International Women's Marathon, the elite-only
women's race known as the qualifying trial that had sent off many Japanese
star athletes to the international competitions, including two Olympic gold
medalists Naoko Takahashi and Mizuki Noguchi. It holds the World Athletics
Platinum Label status and has now grown to an event of 22,000 participants.
For playing a significant role in the increase of women runner population
in Japan, the race was awarded the International Olympic Committee Women
and Sport Achievement Diploma in 2019, after receiving the Japan Olympic
Committee Women and Sport Award in 2017.
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