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One Last Chance For the Olympics: The Biwako Mainichi Marathon (updated)

http://www.asahi.com/sports/update/0219/OSK200802190031.html
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/osaka/spor/200802/20/spor207728.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The organizing committee of final selection race for the Beijing Olympics men's marathon team, the Mar. 2nd Biwako Mainichi Marathon, on Feb. 19 announced the field for this year's race. Headlining the field with a 2:08:46 PB is Osaka World Championships 6th place finisher and 2006 Asian Games bronze medalist Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon). Joining him are Osaka World Championships teammates Tomoyuki Sato and Mitsuru Kubota, both of Team Asahi Kasei.

Overseas competitors include Osaka World Championships silver medalist Mubarak Hassan Shami (Qatar) and 4th place finisher Yared Asmeron (Eritrea), as well as 2-time Biwako winner Jose Rios (Spain) and past Fukuoka International Marathon winner Dmytro Baranovsky (Ukraine) who holds a PB of 2:07:15.

2007 Fukuoka 3rd place finisher Atsushi Sato leads the standings to qualify for the Olympic team with his mark of 2:07:13. Tsuyoshi Ogata also has a good chance of being selected courtesy of his 5th place finish in last summer's Osaka World Championships. Both Sato and Ogata run for Team Chugoku Denryoku. At the Tokyo Marathon on Feb. 17, 2nd place finisher Arata Fujiwara (Team JR East Japan) also put his name onto the list with a 2:08:40 PB finish.

To be assured of an Olympic slot, the domestic runners in Biwako will have to beat 2:07-level international runners. Rikuren's director of road racing Toshio Kiuchi commented, "Since we are talking about the Olympics, time is not as important. Being just the top Japanese finisher will not be good enough either. What will matter most is a win against strong foreigners."

Translator's note: Also scheduled to run in Biwako is Komazawa University's powerful Koichi Sakai. Sakai took the lead for the victorious Komazawa at this year's Hakone Ekiden and will join Team Fujitsu after he graduates this spring. He has been training with former marathon national record holder Atsushi Fujita and will be doing Biwako as his debut marathon.

More information on the Biwako elite field can be found here. A complete listing of the Biwako field is available here.

On race day, check here for live splits every 5 km. Click on the large orange button to see the split data.

The IAAF's Biwako preview is located here.
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