Great Britain's Eilish McColgan will be returning to Japan where she will race in the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon on 1 February.
This will be the her first race in Japan since the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo where she contested the 10,000m and first half marathon in the country, as she builds up to her return to the London Marathon on 26 April.
"It was a long time coming making my marathon debut and looking back at last year’s TCS London Marathon, I’m proud of how I performed. Now I’ve got one marathon under my belt, I’m excited to be able to use the experiences of last year to kick on again," said McColgan who clocked a promising 2:24:25 in last year's race.
In Marugame, McColgan goes into the race as the fastest athlete ahead of Kenya's Dolphine Omare (66:05), Australia's Isobel Batt-Doyle (67:17) and British teammate Charlotte Purdue (68:02).
McColgan's half marathon personal best of 65.43 was set in 2023 and stands as the British record but after running a blistering 30:08 European 10km record at the start of the month in Valencia, McColgan could be on form to set an even faster time.
With the route taking place in the flat coast city of Marugame, there is potential for a very fast time from McColgan, with Sifan Hassan’s European record of 65:15 set in 2018 at the Copenhagen half marathon potentially under threat if the conditions allow.
The men's field features Norway's Sondre Nordstad Moen who broke the European marathon record on Japanese soil in 2017 with a 2:05:48 clocking for victory in the Fukuoka Marathon. He has also broken the one hour-barrier for the half marathon with a 59:48 lifetime best in Valencia in 2017.
From Marugame to London...
As McColgan increases her mileage as she nears the start of her second London Marathon in late April, the other British elite entries have been confirmed.
The women's entry-list also includes multiple European cross country medallist Jessica Warner-Judd who made a promising 2:24:45 debut in the New York Marathon last November, along with Purdue, Rose Harvey, Abbie Donnelly, Lucy Reid, Louise Small, Alice Wright and Verity Hopkins.
The British men’s elite start list boasts extreme depth and some of the nations’ fastest marathon runners in history including Olympic fourth-placer Emile Cairess, who finished third in the London Marathon in 2024, as well as fellow Paris 2024 Olympians Mahamed Mahamed and Phil Sesemann.
The domestic entry-list also includes Patrick Dever, who also impressed on his marathon debut in New York, finishing fourth in 2:08:58 and former world indoor 3000m bronze medallist Marc Scott.
The rest of the elite fields are due to be announced later in the week.
