Skip to main content

An Update on Eastern European Women in Japan

by Brett Larner

The 4th-place finish by Volha Mazuronak of Belarus at last weekend's London Marathon turned heads around the world.  Her time of 2:23:54 may become a national record pending the annulment of times run by Belarussian Alexsandra Duliba following January's announcement of Duliba's suspension on biological passport violations.  New York Road Runners professional athlete consultant David Monti was quick to point out Mazuronak's splits, a 1:13:19 first half, 1:10:35 second half and 7:08 for the final 2.195 km split from 40 km to the finish, the fastest closing split in the London women's field and on a par with or better than the 6th through 10th-place men there.  Mara Yamauchi, the second-fastest British woman ever in the marathon, wrote an analysis noting the similarity between Mazuronak's splits and those in a 2012 JRN analysis of performances by Eastern European women represented by Russian Andrey Baranov and his Spartanik agency.

Baranov also represented Duliba, who recorded the following performance, facing possible annulment, at the 2014 Boston Marathon:

Aleksandra Duliba/BLR - 6th, 2014 Boston Marathon - 2:21:29
1st half: 1:10:15
2nd half: 1:11:14
last 2.195km: 7:17 (2nd-fastest in field behind only suspended doper Rita Jeptoo)

Below is an update to JRN's 2012 post with other performances by Eastern European Baranov athletes in major Japanese marathons since 2012.  As noted, all but one, the slowest one, have been annulled due to biological passport suspensions.  Mazuronak's second half and closing split were truly remarkable in that they beat those in every performance below.  Coincidentally, she is also represented by Baranov.

Mariya Konovalova/RUS (age 40) - 2nd, 2015 Nagoya Women's Marathon - 2:22:27 (annulled)
1st half: 1:11:08
2nd half: 1:11:19
last 2.195 km: 7:22 (2nd-fastest in field behind only Japanese collegiate NR holder Sairi Maeda)

Tetiana Gamera/UKR - 1st, 2015 Osaka Women's Marathon - 2:22:09 (annulled)
1st half: 1:11:15
2nd half: 1:10:54
last 2.195 km: 7:18 (fastest in field)

Mariya Konovalova/RUS - 1st, 2014 Nagoya Women's Marathon - 2:23:43 (annulled)
1st half: 1:12:34
2nd half: 1:11:09
last 2.195 km: 7:13 (fastest in field)

Tetiana Gamera/UKR - 1st, 2014 Osaka Women's Marathon - 2:24:37 (annulled)
1st half: 1:12:12
2nd half: 1:12:25 
last 2.195 km: 7:26 (fastest in field)

Albina Mayorova/RUS - 1st, 2013 Yokohama Women's Marathon - 2:25:55
1st half: 1:13:45
2nd half: 1:12:10
last 2.195 km: 7:43 (fastest in field)

Tetiana Gamera/UKR - 1st, 2013 Osaka Women's Marathon - 2:23:58 (annulled)
1st half: 1:11:40
2nd half: 1:12:18
last 2.195 km: 7:14 (fastest in field)

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

CK said…
Thanks for this report. Another Baranov-related story that, as ever, didn't seem to make it into the mainstream athletics press. Please be assured that there are readers who appreciate JRN's input/efforts on this topic...
Brett Larner said…
Thanks, CK.

For those who are interested, about 12 hours after posting this story JRN suffered a 3-day DDOS attack, the longest and biggest in JRN's 9-year history. Apologies for any interruptions to regularly-scheduled service.

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters