パリ五輪マラソン選考会MGCが終わった。男子は本田技研の伏兵小山直城選手が優勝を飾った。おめでとう！二位は九州電工の赤崎暁（ｱｶｻｷｱｷﾗ）選手。東京五輪6位入賞の大迫傑選手は3位に甘んじた。
レースは序盤、悪天に絶対の耐性を誇るＡＤ損保の川内優輝選手が、激しい雨脚を意にも介さず快走。一時は2位グループに1分近い差をつけた。
しかしハーフを過ぎたあたりから、追走グループの走者が入れ替わり立ち替わり先頭を交代しながら徐々にペースアップ。35㌔付近で遂に首位を行く川内選手に追いつきしばらく並走を続ける。
そしてレースは遂に大会屈指の難所、富久町西交差点へ通じる登坂と、さらにそこから国立競技場までの連続的アップダウンへ突入する。川内選手の追走で脚を使い過ぎた選手が、まず初めに最初の長い登りで一人また一人と先頭集団から脱落。そして先頭が小山直城選手、赤崎暁選手、大迫傑選手、川内優輝選手の４人に絞られ残り4キロに差し掛かった辺りで小山直城が最初にスパート。瞬く間に後続に10㍍近い差をつけた。
富久町西交差点を左に折れて下りに入るも大迫選手は小山選手を追わない。4年前、下りで脚を使った結果、国立競技場に入る登りで中村匠吾選手に引き離され、ラスト500㍍で服部勇馬選手に交わされた悪夢がよぎったのかもしれない。3人集団の中から赤崎暁選手が抜けだした時も、大迫選手は追わなかった。国立競技場へ入る最後の坂で失速しそこでかわせると踏んだのかもしれない。
しかし大迫選手と赤崎選手との差は縮まらなかった。そして二人と小山直城選手との差も。小山直城選手はその後もペースを落とすことなく首位を快走。赤崎暁選手もトラックに入ってからむしろ大迫選手との差を広げて五輪出場権を獲得した。
序盤レースを盛り上げた川内優輝選手は4位。しかしこの惜敗は将来に語り継がれる大健闘として彼の評判を高めるだろう。
一方女子ＭＧＣは第一生命の鈴木優花選手が東京五輪8位入賞の資生堂の一山真緒選手をレース終盤にかわしそのまま逃げ切り優勝。一山選手も、3位細田あい選手（エディオン）の猛追を振り切り代表権を獲得した。おめでとう！
というわけで、MGCは五輪マラソンよりも熱い。まる。
<MGC>
The MGC, the Paris Olympics marathon trials took place. Naoki Koyama of Honda Motors won the men's race. Congratulations to him! Second place went to Akira Akasaki of Kyushu Electrics. Suguru Osako of Nike, who finished 6th in the Tokyo Olympics, had to settle for 3rd place.
In the early stages of the race, AD Sompo's Yuhki Kawauchi, who boasts absolute immunity to bad weather, ran fast despite the heavy rain. At one point, he was nearly a minute ahead of the chase group.
After the halfway point, however, the pace gradually picked up as the runners in the chase group took turns taking over the lead. 35 kilometers out, Kawauchi was finally caught by the chase group and they continued to run side by side for a while.
The race finally reached the most difficult point of the race, the Tomiisacho Nishi Intersection, and from there, it was a series of ups and downs leading up to the National Athletic Stadium. The runners who used up too much of their legs chasing Kawauchi first dropped out of the lead pack one by one on the first long climb, and then Naoki Koyama took over the lead. With only 4km to go, Naoki Koyama, Akira Akasaki, Suguru Osako, and Yuki Kawauchi were in the lead. And then Naoki Koyama suddenly injected the pace to immediately take a 10-meter lead. It took place with 4 kilometers remaining.
Suguru Osako didn't chase Koyama. Perhaps Osako remembered his nightmare four years ago when he used his legs on the downhill and was pulled away by Shogo Nakamura on the climb into the National Stadium and passed by Yuma Hattori in the last 500 meters, When Akira Akasaki broke away from the three-man pack, Osako did not chase either. He may have thought he could dodge him on the final hill into the National Stadium.
However, the gap between Osako and Akasaki did not close. The gap between Osako and Naoki Koyama didn't narrow either. Naoki Koyama continued to lead the race without slowing down. Akira Akasaki also entered the track and widened the gap between himself and Osako to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Yuhki Kawauchi, who had made the race exciting in the early stages, finished in 4th place. However, this close loss will be remembered as a great effort that will enhance his reputation in the future.
In the women's MGC, Yuka Suzuki of Dai-ichi Life Insurance overtook Tokyo Olympics 8th place finisher Mao Ichiyama of Shiseido in the final state of the race and ran away to win. Ichiyama also earned the right to represent Japan in the next Olympics by maintaining a winning distance from Ai Hosoda (Edion) who was strongly chasing her from behind. Congratulations to all selected athletes!
The MGC is perhaps more exciting that the Olympic marathon...
No comments:
Post a Comment