Athens Olympics fifth-place finisher Reiko Tosa was named Monday to a Japanese squad of five female marathoners for the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Osaka this summer, the Japan Association of Athletics Federations announced.
Tosa, Mari Ozaki, Yasuko Hashimoto and Kiyoko Shimahara joined Yumiko Hara, who had clinched a berth in the world meet with her victory in the Osaka Women’s International Marathon in January. Hara clocked 2 hours, 23 minutes, 48 seconds in the Osaka race, well under the qualifying standard set at 2:26:00 by the JAAF, while Ozaki took second in 2:24:39.
Tosa beat Sydney Olympics champion Naoko Takahashi to win the Tokyo International Women’s Marathon last November in 2:26:15. For the men’s squad, the JAAF selected Athens Olympics sixth-place finisher Toshinari Suwa, Asian Games bronze medalist Satoshi Osaki, 2005 world bronze winner Tsuyoshi Ogata and Mitsuru Kubota in addition to Wataru Okutani.
Kubota produced the best run by a Japanese competitor to finish in sixth in the Biwa Lake Mainichi Marathon on March 4.