World Athletics recently announced 2026 Platinum Status（Platinum Status）andGold Status athletes（Gold Status）lists,among them the Platinum Status men and womeneach 45 athletes, Gold Status men and women each 130 athletes,were selected in two rounds on September 23 and December 9 this year.
Yesterday we published the list of Chinese athletes who made the cut; today we'll continue by taking a look at athletes from neighboring Japan.
In comparison, we can clearly sense the gap in marathon competitiveness between China and Japan. China has a total of five athletes (men and women) on the list, while Japan has nine men and nine women who made the 2026 Platinum and Gold Label athlete lists, including one female Platinum Label athlete.
In the marathon entries on the list, the top three Japanese women in the points rankings are Kana Kobayashi, Yuka Suzuki and Ai Hosoda.该积分的高低取决于统计期内，the level of these points depends on athletes' results and placings in major events during the scoring period and the consistency of their race form,Kana Kobayashi, thanks to outstanding performances at this year's Osaka Marathon and the World Championships in Tokyo, sits atop the list and has become a Platinum Label athlete.
It is worth mentioning that,Ririka Hironaka, thanks to her excellent performances in the 10,000m, has been selected as a Gold Label athlete; she is currently ranked fifth in the world in the 10,000m, which is very impressive!
Among Japanese men's runners, Akasaki Akira finished second at this year's Berlin Marathon, bringing his current world marathon ranking to 41 and making him a Gold Label athlete. And Suguru Osako, thanks to his strong performance at the Valencia Marathon earlier this month, was successfully selected as a Gold Label athlete in the second batch.
Comparing world rankings, we find that most Japanese athletes on the list are ranked inside the top 100, while among China's selected athletes, apart from Zhang Deshun at 59th, the other four are ranked outside the top 100 — a sizable gap between the two sides.
Of course we shouldn't sell ourselves short — behind such a gap lies Japan's century-long foundation in long-distance running. Hopefully it can serve as motivation and a target to chase, spurring Chinese athletes to push forward and continually achieve new breakthroughs.
