Running News Daily

World marathon champion Ruth Chepngetich and Lonah Chemtai Salpeter set for Nagoya Women’s Marathon

World marathon champion Ruth Chepngetich and Tokyo Marathon winner Lonah Chemtai Salpeter will be among the athletes racing for victory at the Nagoya Women’s Marathon – a World Athletics Elite Platinum Label road race – on 13 March.

They are among the four sub-2:24 athletes announced for the event, with Japan’s Yuka Ando and Reia Iwade joining them on the start line.

As well as victory, athletes in Nagoya will be racing for the largest first prize in the world of marathon running: US$250,000. Being the world’s largest women’s marathon, one of the world’s top-level races, and the only women’s race with a World Athletics Platinum Label, the Nagoya Women’s Marathon continues to be a global leader in women’s running.

After winning the world title in Doha in 2019, Kenya’s Chepngetich – who has a PB of 2:17:08 from Dubai in 2019 – went on to finish third in the 2020 London Marathon and then won in Chicago last year after being unable to finish the Olympic marathon in Tokyo.

She will be seeking success on her return to Japan, where she will go up against Israel’s Salpeter, who ran 2:17:45 in Tokyo in 2020 to set a national record and break the course record.

Ando ran her PB of 2:21:36 when finishing second in Nagoya in 2017 and started this year with a half marathon personal best of 1:08:13 in Yamaguchi, while Iwade ran her best marathon time of 2:23:52 in Nagoya in 2019.

They will be joined by athletes including Australia’s Sinead Diver and Japan’s Rie Kawauchi.

Last year’s edition of the Nagoya Women’s Marathon was held as a domestic race, and was won by Japan’s Mizuki Matsuda in 2:21:51.