Ryoko Kizaki stole Mizuki Noguchi's thunder to win the Nagoya Women's Marathon on Sunday, securing a spot on the Japan team for this summer's world championships in Moscow in the process.
All eyes were on Athens Olympics gold medalist Noguchi, who was making her comeback from yet another fitness setback and was in contention for much of the race.
But Noguchi ran out of steam and Kizaki, Japan's best performer in placing 16th at last year's London Olympics, pulled away from Ethiopia's Berhane Dibaba with 2 km left to cut the tape at Nagoya Dome in a personal-best time of 2 hours, 23 minutes, 34 seconds.