Tomoe Abe

Tomoe Abe ( Japanese 安 部 友 恵 , Abe Tomoe ; born August 13, 1971 in Kitsuki ) is a former Japanese long-distance runner .

Second in the Osaka Women's Marathon 1993, with 2:26:27 h only one second behind the eventual world champion Junko Asari , she qualified for the marathon of the World Athletics Championships in Stuttgart , where she won the bronze medal in 2:31:01 . The following year she won in Osaka with the Japanese record of 2:26:09. In 1996 she was fifth in Osaka in 2:28:00 and won the Hokkaidō Marathon in 2:31:21. At the 1997 World Cup , she finished 29th.

In 1998 and 1999 she was second in the Hokkaidō Marathon, in 1999 and 2000 sixth in the Osaka Marathon.

On her only excursion on an ultramarathon course , she improved the world record over this distance by almost half an hour at the 100 km from Lake Saroma and was the first and so far (as of December 2012) only woman with 6:33:11 h seven hours.

In 2001 she was fifth in the Nagoya Marathon in 2:27:02 , in 2002 she was fifth in Osaka, sixth in Nagoya and in the last race of her competitive career, sixth in the Tokyo International Women's Marathon .

With a height of 1.49 m and a competition weight of 38 kg, Abe is unusually graceful even for a long-distance runner.

Web links

• Tomoe Abe in the database of World Athletics (English)