Strong Women Athletes Gather To Compete In Nagoya Women’s Marathon For The World’s Biggest Marathon First Prize

Growing attention to the historic race where the sport of the marathon will offer its highest first prize for women rather than men

In advance of the much-anticipated race scheduled for this Sunday, March 13, the Nagoya Women’s Marathon held a pre-race press conference for the invited elite athletes today in Nagoya, Japan.

“I chose (to run) the Nagoya Women’s Marathon because Japan is a nice place. The environment is good, and as women, we have to encourage ourselves and do better. I want to run a nice race at PB (personal best),” said World Marathon Champion (2019) and Chicago Marathon Champion (2021) Ruth Chepngetich. Her competitor and Tokyo Marathon Champion (2020) Lonah Chemtai Salpeter commented “I’m happy to be here. It’s my first time and I hope to do my best on Sunday. And I wish all the ladies all the best,” and when asked about pre-race training, she added “My training was good. I was in Kenya for eight weeks, so I’m ready for Sunday. I’m trusting my training.” Challenging Chepngetich and Salpeter from Japan, Tokyo 2020 Olympian in the 10,000m and the two-time second-place finisher of the Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2017 and 2020, Yuka Ando said “I’m excited to run with such strong and wonderful athletes. I want to try my best to see how far I can go and aim for victory as a challenger.”

In addition to the top elite athletes, the Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2022 will host general runners residing in Japan. Unfortunately, non-elite runners who live outside Japan will not be able to participate in the race on-site due to the Japanese government’s border restrictions over the Omicron variant and have been asked to join the virtual event, the Nagoya Women’s Online Marathon 2022. All finishers, including those who complete the virtual race, will be presented the famous and popular finish prize of the Nagoya Women’s Marathon, including a Tiffany & Co. pendant and a New Balance T-shirt.

Since this year, the first prize for the Nagoya Women's Marathon has become the largest in the world for marathon running: US$250,000. All eyes are on who will be the first female athlete in marathon history to win the highest prize money. The race will be streamed live for free to 33 countries and regions (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Myanmar, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, and United States of America) on the race’s official website at https://womens-marathon.nagoya/en/broadcast.php. Stay tuned for the race start at 9:10 a.m. on Sunday, March 13, 2022, Japanese time!

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