Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2021 was held with 4,704 participants with Covid-19 protective measures

The Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2021 was held on Sunday, March 14 in the city of Nagoya, Japan as scheduled.

- Mizuki Matsuda won her first victory over Nagoya in 2:21:51
- The Tiffany & Co.’s exclusive finisher pendant blossomed smiles on finishers’ faces
- Nagoya set an example of ‘new normal’ in-person distance race

The Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2021, a World Athletics Platinum Label road race and the largest women’s marathon in the world, was the first mass participation distance race to be held in Japan since the Covid-19 pandemic started. Despite the unfavorable weather condition of strong wind, a total of 4,704 women from top elite athletes to general runners participated in the race and ran through the streets of Nagoya.

The winner was Mizuki Matsuda (JPN), a substitute athlete for the Japan’s marathon team for the Tokyo Olympic Games, who ran alone in front throughout the race and won her first victory over the Nagoya Women’s Marathon with a time of 2 hours 21 minutes 51 seconds.

The number of total finishers was 4,650, which filled the venue with smiling faces when they received the Tiffany & Co.’s event-exclusive finisher pendant, known as the symbol of the Nagoya Women’s Marathon.

In the Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2021, a total of 15,000 personnel were involved, including runners, volunteers, medical professionals, race officials and staff. To act in best practice to seek to ensure everyone’s health and safety, we the organizers took all possible measures against Covid-19 throughout the event period. Our event would have not been possible without each and everyone’s support and cooperation. It gives us greater joy than anything else that we were able to stage the event, at a time of great challenge for all, with all suitable precautions delivered.

Alongside the in-person race, a global virtual race, the Nagoya Women’s Online Marathon 2021, has also started. The participants of the virtual race may run the race anytime and anywhere before the event ends on April 30, 2021.

The Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2021 was held in the ‘new normal’ style and made a ‘new start’ thanks to all parties concerned. The Covid-19 infection status still requires caution, but we would like to hold our 2022 race at the usual scale. We sincerely hope that vaccinations will be available around the world and the pandemic will end as soon as possible.

The race results of the Nagoya Women’s Marathon 2021 can be found here:
https://womens-marathon.nagoya/en/news/20210314-1301/

For more information about the Nagoya Women’s Marathon, please visit: 
https://womens-marathon.nagoya/ (Japanese)
https://womens-marathon.nagoya/en/ (English)

About Nagoya Women’s Marathon
 
The Nagoya Women’s Marathon is the largest women’s marathon in the world certified by Guinness World Records. It was launched on March 11, 2012 with 13,114 participants, reformed from the Nagoya International Women’s Marathon, the elite-only women’s race known as the qualifying trial sent off many Japanese star athletes to international competitions, including two Olympic gold medalists Naoko Takahashi and Mizuki Noguchi. It holds the World Athletics Platinum label status and has now grown to an event of 22,000 participants. For playing a significant role in the increase of women runner population in Japan, the race was awarded the International Olympic Committee Women and Sport Achievement Diploma in 2019, after receiving the Japan Olympic Committee Women and Sport Award in 2017.