Two-time Olympian Suguru Osako plans to run in marathon at Paris Olympics

Two-time Olympian Suguru Osako said Monday that he plans to represent Japan in the men's marathon at the Paris Olympics, having been coy over his participation.

The 32-year-old had provisionally earned the third and final Japanese slot after finishing third in October's Marathon Grand Championship. No runner from the country has since met the Olympic qualification benchmark set by the Japan Association of Athletics Federations through Sunday's Tokyo Marathon, sealing Osako's spot.

Osako, who clarified his latest stance on his YouTube channel, had previously claimed, "The Olympics is an important race, but not something to be fixated on as much as people think."

He ran 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics before coming sixth in the marathon at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. He retired after his second games but returned in 2022.

Osako also said he will run the Boston Marathon, where he made his racing debut in 2017, as scheduled on April 15.

"I'm excited I might be able to notice something new there," he said.

Naoki Koyama and Akira Akasaki punched their tickets to Paris after finishing in the top two at October's race.

posted Thursday March 7th
by The Japan Times