Yuki Kawauchi will win today’s Boston Marathon. Update: Yes he just did it.

Wow, this is unbelievable! I doubt anyone in Japanese running community could predict this before the race.

Whenever people think they've learnt Yuki's limitation, he come and prove them to be wrong. Well done.

Old Ultra Guy wrote:

My opinion is that Yuki's surges were done to prevent a slow pace playing into the abilities of those capable of sub 14:00 5 ks in the last half hour of the marathon.

He never let the race become a total jog-fest. Even though the times were slow, the effort was kept honest by him.

Wonderful performance. Guts.

PS: Also very fortunate that Kirui cratered.

I also think Kurui was pissed that, despite the fact that nobody went with Yuki when he surged, Yuki covered a couple others' moves, including one of Kurui's. He tried to wave Yuki around, and he was like, "Nah." It was great.

Feels good to have also predicted yesterday that Yuki would win ;-)

He won because he possibly was able to keep his core temperature up better than the others, even though he was wearing only a singlet. What a hard ass. His 90km weekend training runs taught him to suffer. Training alone also taught him to suffer better, instead of socializing with others in an elite training group during long runs, which must not mentally harden one up.

I'm also surprised at the ignorance of the announcers, who were calling his early hot pace a mistake, and the audacity to claim he was looking for his five minutes of Fame, while knowing he has more marathon experience than the combined marathon experience of the rest of the pack he's running with. Surely someone with that experience knows how to pace themselves.

in japan wrote:

Feels good to have also predicted yesterday that Yuki would win ;-)

He won because he possibly was able to keep his core temperature up better than the others, even though he was wearing only a singlet. What a hard ass. His 90km weekend training runs taught him to suffer. Training alone also taught him to suffer better, instead of socializing with others in an elite training group during long runs, which must not mentally harden one up.

I'm also surprised at the ignorance of the announcers, who were calling his early hot pace a mistake, and the audacity to claim he was looking for his five minutes of Fame, while knowing he has more marathon experience than the combined marathon experience of the rest of the pack he's running with. Surely someone with that experience knows how to pace themselves.

They had no idea who he was until their googlers handed them some bio info. A "nobody" running 4:37 first mile in those conditions was easily dismissed. I honestly still am not sure how he weathered that early blast off. He is an exceptional runner who had an exceptional day.

At a given effort, more glycogen is used in cold weather; resulting in more lactate. Yuki is prepared to run in a high lactate state, due to his marathon frequency.

Hi Nike! wrote:

Yuki owes this one to Nike's outerwear department.

Of course, Yuki completely deserved the victory, but I was amazed to see Kirui running in this ill-fitted rain jacket for the entire race, he looked like he never took off his poncho. I get that some athletes prefer to run in singlets while others run in long sleeves or waterproof gear in the same conditions. But surely, Nike could have provided him with better-fitting attire?

With stunts like this, Nike just make it obvious that, to them "shoe sponsorship" has nothing to do with equipment and everything to do with financials.

Querfeldein wrote:

But surely, Nike could have provided him with better-fitting attire?

African runners usually wear too big clothes. Their singlets are too long.

Star wrote:

Sprintgeezer wrote:

He has my vote 100%.

Hold on.

Sprintgeezer is alive?!

Lol yes! And supporting Kawauchi!

Have always loved the guy. Real heart, a real champion.

Today he was a man among boys.

Bottom line: stop whining, and run.

Saw the race replay last night on NBCSN, it was great how he just “appeared” behind Kirui after an extended period of women’s coverage. Boy did Kirui melt down.

KAWAUCHI !

Luki Yuki wrote:

Pure guts. This is his race today.

We've turned this into the official thread as before the race started a poster called Luki Yuki started it and predicted a victory for Kawaruchi. We've merged a bunch of post-race threads into this one.

Let me guess, you're Japanese.

Asians are, by definition, the most racist people on the planet. They only cheer for sports teams with players of their race. They only eat their food. Not Asian-Americans. Asians.

In college, the Japanese only hung out with other Japanese. The Koreans only hung out with other Koreans.

Yes, a good win for a good guy. But, give me a break if you expect me to believe you predicted this for any reason other than the fact that he is the same race as you!

and anyone who cheers for Galen rupp is white. Damn nationalists!

My name is Robert Paulson wrote:

Kawauchi will not win. Calling it.

Bump

These conditions? 4:37 on a sharply downhill mile is actually pretty conservative. Easily 4:50+ pace equivalent on a flat which is just slightly under 2:10 pace. It only looked fast because he gapped the field that wanted to slog out like the women did at 7:00 pace.

Kawauchi DIPPED at the line.

My man.

Smartie wrote:

These conditions? 4:37 on a sharply downhill mile is actually pretty conservative. Easily 4:50+ pace equivalent on a flat which is just slightly under 2:10 pace. It only looked fast because he gapped the field that wanted to slog out like the women did at 7:00 pace.

Yes, exactly. Looking at his first 10k (30:21) and subtracting the 4:37, he ran even pace 4:57 miles. Without that downhill surge, he would have run even pace the entire first 10k. Kawauchi wasn't doing anything crazy, it just looked that way because the rest of the field was running slowwww.

456 wrote:

In college, the Japanese only hung out with other Japanese. The Koreans only hung out with other Koreans.

Well, it's finally happened. The little "racist!" shriekers have actually rendered the term utterly meaningless -- because they don't even know what it means.

What you're referring to here are different ethnicities, little fella, not different races.

Japanese, Korean, and Chinese are all the same ethnicity. Is the word you are struggling for 'nationality' perhaps? Just a political distinction

Sit and kick wrote:

Japanese, Korean, and Chinese are all the same ethnicity. Is the word you are struggling for 'nationality' perhaps? Just a political distinction

No, those are all different ethnicities. They're the same race. South and North Korea would be different nationalities but the same ethnicity. In China there are many ethnicities. Han Chinese being the majority.