This morning at 8:30 Japan time, Japan’s only large-scale marathon held in midsummer — the Hokkaido Marathon — started from Ōdōri Park in Sapporo.
In this race, Takushoku University graduate Seira Fuwa will attempt her first marathon; Hibiki Yoshida — nicknamed “the Phiten‑patch king” — after blowing up at this year’s Osaka Marathon (2:09:35) is contesting his second marathon. Will he crash again this time due to poor fueling and an overly aggressive strategy?
At the same time, one of Japan’s leading women’s distance runners, Hitomi Niiya, is also on the start list — what will her performance be like in this race?
01
Race highlights
First‑time marathoner Seira Fuwa has, with the support of her corporate team, made a good recovery from previous Achilles and hip injuries. She went into the race untroubled by injury and completed several long sessions in training.
For this “young prodigy” with 10,000m 30:45.21 and a half marathon of 1:09:39 PBs, she admitted before the race that her only goals were to secure MGC qualification (women’s standard 2:32:00 and top three Japanese) and to break 2:30.
Her biggest rival — and possibly the pace‑setter on course — is Hitomi Niiya, the Japanese record holder in the women’s half marathon (1:06:38) and 10,000m (30:20.44).
What kind of sparks will the two of them produce? We’ll be watching closely.
On the men’s side is our “Phiten‑patch king” Hibiki Yoshida. He produced a terrifying debut of 2:09:35 at this year’s Osaka Marathon — critically, that time came after his “suicidal” pacing caused him to fall apart at 32 km.
This race is his second marathon. He’s targeting sub‑2:08 and aims to break the men’s course record(Naoki Okamoto’s 2:11:29 from 2018), win the race, and secure MGC qualification.
After a period of “settling down,” can he hold a steadier rhythm, find a more composed tactic and ultimately achieve his goal?
02
Race progress
Today in Sapporo, Hokkaido the weather was overcast, with temperatures of 17–22°C. Conditions were reasonably suitable for the two focus athletes, Seira Fuwa and Hibiki Yoshida.
0-10km
Hibiki Yoshida, Takayuki Iida and others were in the first men’s pack, passing the 5 km timing point in 15:30, with the group tightly bunched.Seira Fuwa and Hitomi Niiya passed the 5 km point in 17:27.
At 10 km the men’s and women’s lead groups went through in 30:35 and 34:28 respectively.
10-20km
Yoshida and Fuwa remained in the men’s and women’s lead groups. Masato Arao and Daisuke Higuchi were leading the men’s pack, with Yoshida sitting in fourth; Fuwa, Niiya and Shiori Yoshizono rotated the lead among the women.
The 15 km split for the men’s and women’s lead groups was 45:56 and 51:35.
At 20 km the men’s lead group passed in 1:00:04 — that 20 km split is about 2 minutes quicker!
The women passed through in 1:08:42.
20-30km
25km Minoru Kameda recorded a time of 1:16:22, opening up nearly a 20 m gap on the men's lead group behind him, which included Hibiki Yoshida.
At 28 km the men's pack, led by Takayuki Iida, caught the solo leader Minoru Kameda and passed the 30 km timing mat in 1:32:22.
The women's group remained closely matched, stillSeira Fuwa and Hitomi Niiya were locked in a tussle up front, while Shiori Yoshizono began to show signs of falling off the pace.
30-35km
At 31km, 吉田响 began to surge, breaking away from the main pack alone. Compared with his overly aggressive tactics in the Osaka Marathon, this time 吉田响 had lain low with the pack for a long while before finally launching his attack.
03
Race results
Ultimately,Tang Qianren won the title with a time of 2:10:45, breaking the men's event record.of 2:11:29. The other two runners from the final lead group,Ken Tansho,荒生实慧 finished second and third in 2:10:54 and 2:10:58 respectively, also breaking the course record; the top three all secured MGC qualification.
Hibiki Yoshida ran the final 3-4 km in great pain, ultimately finishing ninth in 2:13:15.
Today his race tactics were an improvement over Osaka Marathon.He stayed steady early and used his strong speed to make a move at 31km. Unfortunately, for various reasons he couldn't hang on to the finish,regrettably parting ways with what he had hoped for before the race—the goal to "break the course record + secure MGC qualification."
Perhaps he should have been more measured,learning from runners like 汤浅仁 to begin the final surge at 40km — after all, accelerating 11 km early was arguably a bit too hasty. Still, we admire this kind of “impulsive” Japanese runner — “whether you blow up or not, give it a go first” — and that carpe-diem, “floating-world” philosophy certainly delivered high entertainment value and race suspense for the audience.
Turning to the women's side, Hitomi Niiya claimed the title in 2:24:14, breaking the previous mark set in 2009.Kiyoko Shimahara still holds the race record of 2:25:10,Bu Po Shengyi made their marathon debut, finishing second in 2:26:03; both earned MGC qualification.
Having been in the top three through the first 40 km,Jiyuan Qian was overtaken from behind by Zhushan Fengcai, who took third place in 2:28:07; Jiyuan finished in 2:28:42 and, regrettably, fell off the podium.
The disappointment for 吉薗栞 lies in the fact that, although her time met the MGC standard, qualification only went to the top three within that standard — so she lost MGC qualification at the final moment.
In the end, Bu Po Sheng Yilai’s marathon debut went as hoped: she secured MGC qualification, finished in the women’s top three, and even posted an unexpectedly fast 2:26 — truly something to celebrate!
吉田响 showed tactical improvement, but racing is like that — you need both form and luck to get a great result. Hopefully he can make another breakthrough next time.
[End-of-article interaction]
#What else do you expect from Seira Fuwa and Hibiki Yoshida?#
Text / Editor: Cavendish
Image source: Hokkaido Cultural Broadcasting, Instagram
Visuals: Max
