Mari Tanigawa

Mari Tanigawa ( Japanese 谷川 真理 , Tanigawa Mari ; born October 27, 1962 in Fukuoka ) is a Japanese long-distance runner who specializes in marathon distance .

In March 1988 she ran her first marathon in Nagoya in 3:00:58 h. In the months that followed, she continuously improved. Just two and a half years later, she finished third in the Tokyo International Women's Marathon , her sixth marathon start, in 2:34:10 h. In 1990 she won the so-called Ōme marathon over 30 km and won the marathon in Tokyo in 2:31:27 h, thereby securing the Japanese championship title. In 1992 she finished second at the Nagoya Marathon , where she made her debut four years earlier, and won the Gold Coast Marathon in Australia .

At the Half Marathon World Championships in Brussels in 1993 , she won the silver medal in both the individual and team rankings. That same year she came second in the Tokyo International Women's Marathon. In 1994 she won the Paris Marathon in a personal career best of 2:27:55 h. Later that season she finished tenth at the World Half Marathon Championships in Oslo and won bronze in the team championship.

In 1996 Tanigawa finished third in the Honolulu Marathon . In 1998 she won the Maui Marathon in record time and was sixth in the Hokkaidō Marathon . In other starts at the Honolulu Marathon in 1999 and 2000, she finished fourth and fifth. In the following years she had to pay tribute to her age and could no longer match her earlier results. At the 2007 Tokyo Marathon she came second. However, no elite runners were signed there at that time. After this changed, she only finished 67th in Tokyo in 2009.

Mari Tanigawa is 1.60 m tall and has a competition weight of 44 kg. She lives in the Tokyo district of Arakawa , where a half marathon named after her has been held as a fun run since 2000 . She regularly appears on talk shows on Japanese television and holds seminars for runners. Her cousin is the hurdler Satoru Tanigawa .

Top performances

• Half marathon: 1:09:37 h, January 22, 1995, Tokyo
• Marathon: 2:27:55 h, April 24, 1994, Paris

Web links

• Mari Tanigawa in the database of World Athletics (English)