Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko of Ukraine won the Osaka Women's Marathon for the second year in a row on Sunday, while Yukiko Akaba scored a runnerup finish in the last competitive race of her career.
Gamera-Shmyrko, fifth at the London Olympics, cut the tape at Nagai Stadium in a time of 2 hours, 24 minutes 37 seconds. Akaba, the 2011 Osaka winner, clocked 2:26:00 and Karolina Jarzynska of Poland was third in 2:26:31.
"I am happy I could win for the second straight year in such a strong field," said Gamera-Shmyrko, who caught up with Akaba at the 35-km mark and pulled away before widening her lead with 5 km left.
"I caught up and pulled level and was able to breathe easily. After that I was confident I would win," she added.
Sairi Maeda produced a fourth-place finish on her marathon debut with a time of 2:26:46.