AFP
11 March 2001 – Nagoya, Japan - Kazumi Matsuo narrowly defeated fellow Japanese Takami Ominami at the home stretch to win the Nagoya international women's marathon on Sunday.
Matsuo, fighting a tip-to-toe battle against Ominami in the last five kilometres, kept a step lead to cross the finishing line in 2:26:01, beating Ominami by three seconds.
Third place went to Yukiko Okamoto in 2:26:21 as Japanese runners took the top 10 places.
"I had dreams several times that I won, but I'm slower than other runners and I never expected that I actually won," said Matsuo, 26. "I had aimed to cut 2:25:00 and I was confident, but winds were strong and the pace was slow in the latter half. I was disappointed with my time."
However, her effort meant she would almost certainly qualify for the world championships to be held in Edmonton, Canada, in August, although Japan's amateur athletics association had set the bottom line time of 2:26:00.
"I think I will be chosen for Edmonton. Hopefully, I can run my own race there," added Matsuo, the winner of the 1999 Hokkaido marathon and the 2000 Berlin marathon, her previous two races.
Association official Koji Sakurai said: "It was really a good race. I can not assure that she qualified today, because it was over 2:26:00, but she can expect to qualify at a director's meeting on March 20 because of her good performance."
Barcelona Olympic champion and Atlanta silver medallist Valentina Yegorova of Russia, who has said she would retire soon, once caught up with a front-running group after passing the 25km mark before slowing down to finish 11th in 2:28:41.
Leading Results
1. Kazumi Matsuo (Japan) 2:26:01
2. Takami Ominami (Japan) 2:26:04
3. Yukiko Okamoto (Japan) 2:26:21
4. Noriko Geji (Japan) 2:27:01
5. Tomoe Abe (Japan) 2:27:02
6. Ikuyo Goto (Japan) 2:27:16
7. Mayumi Ichikawa (Japan) 2:27:22
8. Ikumi Nagayama (Japan) 2:27:44
9. Naomi Sakashita (Japan) 2:28:09
10. Aki Fujikawa (Japan) 2:28:27
11. Valentina Yegorova (Russia) 2:28:41
