Meseret Defar to Race Second Marathon at Nagoya Women's Marathon in Japan

By Adam Kopet

Meseret Defar meant to run her debut marathon in Tokyo last year, but she never made it to the starting line. Instead, she made her debut at the Amsterdam Marathon last fall, finishing eighth in 2:27:25.

The 35-year-old Ethiopian is again scheduled to compete in Japan, this time at the Nagoya Women's Marathon, scheduled for March 10, for her second career marathon.

Defar has experienced tremendous success on the track before she began shifting her focus to the roads in recent years. She has won three Olympic medals, five IAAF World Outdoor Championships medals and seven IAAF World Indoor Championships medals. She owns personal bests on the track of 8:24.51 for 3,000 meters, 14:12.88 for 5,000 meters and 29:59.20 for 10,000 meters. Defar has also run 1:07:25 in the half marathon.

Also competing at the Nagoya Women's Marathon are the Kenyan trio of Valary Jemeli, Visiline Jepkesho and Monica Jepkoech. Jemeli owns the fastest personal best in the field with a 2:20:53 from her third-place finish at the 2017 Berlin Marathon.

Canada's Rachel Cliff is scheduled to compete after she finished 11th at the 2018 Berlin Marathon in 2:28:53.

A full list of elite entrants for the Nagoya Women's Marathon is available from race organizers.