The 2024 New York Marathon champion Sheila Chepkirui will chase a sub-2:20 performance when she defends her Nagoya Women’s Marathon title on Sunday.
Chepkirui was triumphant during last year’s edition in 2:20:40.
She outkicked Japan’s Sayaka Sato, who timed 2:20:59 and Bahraini Eunice Chumba in 2:21:35.
”My goal on Sunday will be to try and defend my title,” Chepkirui said during the pre-race press conference.
Further, Chepkirui says favourable weather could see her chase a faster time in the Japanese streets.
”It will also depend on the weather. If we have good weather, I will push myself to run 2:20 or under.”
The 35-year-old further noted that her preparations for this year’s race have not changed from last year.
”I haven’t changed my training; it is similar to my training before last year’s race. My main area of focus has been on gym work,” she said.
Chepkirui enters the fray off the back of a mixed 2025 season.
After opening her 2025 with her Nagoya win, the 35-year-old traded the roads for the track, featuring in a 5,000m race at the Kenya Defence Forces championships.
In that race, she recorded a disappointing seventh-place finish, clocking 15:57.5.
Joyciline Jepkosgei (15:23.6), Daisilah Jerono (15:28.8) and Esther Chemtai (15:36.1) secured the podium in that race.
She, however, bounced back emphatically over 25 laps at the same championships, claiming victory in 33:34.14.
Chepkirui then returned to the roads, featuring at the Boston 10K to place seventh in 32:17.
Compatriots Sharon Lokedi (31:39) and Gladys Kwamboka (31:39) secured first and second place, with American Emily Sisson (31:42) rounding off the podium.
Chepkirui then won the Great North Run Half Marathon in Britain, clocking 1:09:32 and leading Vivian Cheruiyot (1:09:37) and Britain’s Eilish McColgan (1:09:42) home.
The long-distance ace capped off her year with a third-place finish at the New York Marathon in a race where Kenyan women swept the podium.
Hellen Obiri (2:19:51) and Sharon Lokedi (2:20:07) finished first and second, respectively.
In Nagoya, Chepkirui faces a stern test from Ethiopia’s Aynalem Desta, who enters the fray buoyed by her Amsterdam marathon triumph last year.
Adding more depth to the field is last year’s third-place finisher, Chumba of Bahrain.
Joining Chepkirui will be Selly Kaptich, the 2022 Frankfurt Marathon champion, forming a strong Kenyan charge.
