Masako Chiba

Masako Chiba ( Japanese 千葉 真 子 , Chiba Masako ; born July 18, 1976 in Uji ) is a former Japanese long-distance runner .

In 1996 she set the current Japanese record in 10 km road running with 31:44 ; in the same year she finished fifth in the 10,000 meter run at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta . At the World Athletics Championships in Athens in 1997 , she was third behind Sally Barsosio (KEN) and Fernanda Ribeiro (POR) in the 10,000 meter run in 31: 41.93 .

In 1999 she set a Japanese record in the half marathon with 1:09:27 . Then she specialized in the marathon route , was fifth in the same year at the Tokyo International Women's Marathon and won the 2001 Hokkaidō Marathon .

At the 2003 World Athletics Championships in Paris , she finished third behind Catherine Ndereba (KEN) and her compatriot Mizuki Noguchi in 2:25:08 , after finishing second in the Osaka Women's Marathon with 2:21:45 earlier this year Had set up the best time.

In 2004 she was second again in Osaka, set the current Japanese record over 15 km with 49:03, won the Hokkaidō Marathon and came fourth in the Tokyo International Women's Marathon.

In 2005 she won the third time at the Hokkaidō Marathon, this time with the course record of 2:25:46, and was third in the Chicago Marathon . The following year she retired from competitive sports.

Web links

• Masako Chiba in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Masako Chiba in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Athlete portrait on marathoninfo.free.fr (French)