21-Nov-1998 – Tokyo International Women’s Marathon – 2:22:12 – ASICS Sortie
Date of birth: 14-Jan-1973
Nationality: Japanese
The athlete:
Eri Yamaguchi focussed her attentions on domestic competition in Japan, competing in many distances with reasonable success. Her first marathon victory would come at the 1998 Hokkaido Marathon, indicating that she was coming into her element at the distance. Although little information is available in English about the 1999 Tokyo International Women’s Marathon, the results are clear. Yamaguchi was absolutely dominant, finishing nearly five minutes ahead of second to win in 2:22:12.
It secured her spot on the Japanese team for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where she would finish a creditable seventh against the best in the world. While she would continue competing for several years, her win at the 1999 Tokyo International Women’s Marathon was clearly her career highlight.
I’ve included her win at the event as the Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS), who as noted elsewhere are comprised of various experts from around the world, consider the course Naoko Takahashi raced on at the 1998 Asian Games to not be of record quality. I have relied on the work of the ARRS in building this website, however no further information is available as to why they consider the course to not be of record quality.
I note that when World Athletics reported on the race they stated it was th new women’s only marathon world record. I’ve reached out to organisers of the Asian Games to seek clarification. On this basis I’ve included the mark set by Yamaguchi, albeit with the aforementioned qualifications
The shoes:
In clearer pictuers we have of the race, which I was unable to licence due to cost, Yamaguchi clearly wore the ubiquitous ASICS Sortie, the extremely lightweight racing flat one of the most popular choices for elite women’s distance runners since first launching in 1981. The model was the development of the Onitsuka Tiger Marup which itself first released in 1957.
You can read more about the Marup in my article on Toru Terasawa, and the Sortie in my article on Naoki Takahashi and her 2001 outright women’s marathon world record.
References:
https://corp.asics.com/en/about_asics/history
https://www.lydiardacademy.org/photo-gallery
https://bansyakurunner.xyz/2020/02/10/
https://twitter.com/toyamastarchild
https://youtu.be/EWorzg2qcOY
https://more.arrs.run/runner/1872