Japanese record holder Naoko Takahashi, running alone for the second half of the race, easily won the Nagoya International Women's Marathon on Sunday and assured herself a slot on Japan's Olympic marathon team for this fall.
Takahashi covered the 42.195-km out-and-back course from Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya in a meet record time of 2 hours, 22 minutes and 19 seconds to win by more than 2 minutes over runnerup Reiko Tosa.
Takami Ominami was more than 2 minutes further back for third place in the race, serving as the final qualifier for Japan's Olympic marathon team.
"Of course, I was thinking about Sydney as I ran. But more than that, I was encouraged by all of the cheering of the people lining the route," said Takahashi, who also won the Nagoya Marathon in 1998.