Japanese runner wins Osaka International Women's Marathon, qualified for Rio Olympics

Japanese runner Kayoko Fukushi excelled herself and won the Osaka International Women's Marathon on Sunday, qualifying herself for this summer's Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

From the very start of the race, 33-year-old Fukushi was among the leading group, competing with the Japanese runner Risa Shigetomo, who was champion of the race in 2012 and runner-up in 2015.

Past halfway of the 42.195 km race, Fukushi pulled away from all her adversaries and finally finished first with 2:22:17, inside the qualifying standard of 2:22:30 for Japanese team of Rio Olympics set by Japan Association of Athletics Federations.

This was the second time for Fukushi to win a championship of Osaka International Women's Marathon. She was retroactively named winner of the 2013 race as original winner Ukrainian runner Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko was disqualified by the Ukrainian Athletic Federation due to doping rules violation and all her results from 26 August 2011 to 30 September 2015 were annulled.

Japanese runners Misato Horie and Risa Takenaka finished second and third respectively, in 2:28:20 and 2:29:14.

The Osaka International Women's Marathon is an annual marathon road race which passed many prominent landmarks in Osaka city. The race was first held on Jan. 24, 1982.

This year's race was one of the four qualification races for Japanese marathon team of Rio Olympics. Over 600 people participated in the race, including nine specially invited foreign athletes.