Rie Matsuoka placed second with the fifth best time in Japanese history at the 26th Paris Marathon on Sunday with some 30,000 runners participating in the meet.
The 25-year-old Matsuoka, a representative at last year's World Athletics Championships, crossed the finish in a time of 2 hours, 24 minutes, 33 seconds, improving on her previous best time set in Osaka by more than three minutes.
Marleen Renders of Belgium cruised home first with the best time of 2:23:5 while home favorite Benoit Zwierzchlewski of France finished in 2:08:18 in the men's race.
Yasuaki Yamamoto placed 17th with a time of 2:13:41 while Seiji Kushibe was back in 24th with 2:19:17.