Nagoya Women’s Marathon defending champion Ruth Chepngetich will lead elite runners to the 12th edition race of the event to be held on March 12.
Chepngetich ran the second-fastest women’s marathon in history in 2:14:18 in Chicago last October.
This was after recording the second-fastest ever women-only marathon time of 2:17:18 in Nagoya last year to become the first female athlete to win the largest first prize in the world of marathon running.
Other stars in the field include Kenya's Nancy Jelagat Meto with a personal best record under 2 hours 20 minutes, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Marathon bronze medallist Molly Seidel of the 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.
Yuka Suzuki, who set the new Japanese student record in 2:25:02 in Nagoya last year, is also in the race.
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 race is the marathon event with the largest first prize in 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 fully open to both domestic and international runners for the first time in three years after the Japanese government lifted the Covid-related border restrictions.
