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News27 Jan 2002


Kiplagat wins Osaka Women's Marathon

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Kiplagat wins Osaka international women’s marathon
AFP
27 January 2002 – Osaka - Kenya’s Lornah Kiplagat shook off the challenge of Japan’s Harumi Hiryoyama Sunday for a convincing victory in the Osaka international women’s marathon.

Kiplagat and Hiroyama left the 1996 Atlanta Olympics champion Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia behind after the 30km mark and battled for the lead until the Kenyan broke away with five kilometers remaining, crossing the finishing line in two hours 23 minutes 55 seconds.

Hiroyama came in second in 2:24:34, far ahead of fellow Japanese Haruko Okamoto, who recorded a personal best of 2:27:01 for third.

“This is really a very good race. I’m proud of winning this race,” said Kiplagat, 27, who made a dash after passing the 37km point.

“For sure, I was feeling good, and I thought there was no reason to wait that long. If you want to win, you have to run a good time also, and you have to make a break somewhere.

“I wanted to spurt earlier, but I was never sure how it would be at the end,” added the Kenyan.

It was Kiplagat’s fourth marathon victory out of nine starts.

The 1994 champion Tomoe Abe of Japan was fifth in 2:29:16, while  Roba came seventh in 2:29:31.

The Nagano Olympic memorial marathon winner Elfinesh Alemu of Ethiopia, who formed the front-running group with Kiplagat and Hiroyama until the 30km point, abandoned the race shortly before the 35km mark.

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