Mizuho Nasukawa DOB: 22 Nov 1979; Height: 163cm; Weight: 46Kg; Team: Universal Entertainment (formerly Aruze) Personal Bests : 5000m: 15:23.00 (2006); 3000mSC: 10:05.37 (2008) Half : 1:11:58 (2003); Marathon: 2:25:38 (2009)

International Championships Highlights:

Progressions (since 2005): Year 5000m 10000m Marathon 2011 2:30:00 2010 16:02.89 2:36:07 2009 16:00.76 1:12:19 (en route to marathon) 2:25:38 2008 15:45.20 2007 15:38.84 2006 15:23.00 2005 15:39.31 1:12:10 2:30:15

Marathon Career Time Race Place Date 2:30:00 London 21 st 17 Apr 2011 2:36:07 Hokkaido – Sapporo 3rd 29 Aug 2010 2:57:22 Tokyo 24 th 28 Feb 2010 2:29:22 Chicago 7th 11 Oct 2009 2:34:17 Hokkaido – Sapporo 7th 30 Aug 2009 Personal Best 2:25:38 Tokyo 1st 22 Mar 2009 2:30:15 Osaka 8th 30 Jan 2005 2:29:49 Osaka 4th 25 Jan 2004

2011 Results Date Race Distance Place Time 17 Apr Marathon 21 st 2:30:00 13 Feb Akabane half marathon Half marathon 1st 1:14:12 16 Jan Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden Stage 9 – 10Km 20 th 34:03

2010 Results Date Race Distance Place Time 19 Dec All JPN Corporate team Women’s Ekiden – Gifu Stage 1 – 6.6Km 1st 20:46 3 Nov East JPN Corporate team Women’s Ekiden Stage 5 – 10Km 3rd 34:01 1 Oct National Sports Festival – Chiba 5000m 11 th 16:02.89 29 Aug – Sapporo Marathon 3rd 2:36:07 28 Feb Marathon 24 th 2:57:22 18 Jan Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden Section-10Km 16 th 33:03

2009 Results Date Race Distance Place Time 13 Dec JPN Women’s Corporate Ekiden Champ – Gifu Section 3 – 10Km 12 th 33:08 23 Nov Chiba International Ekiden Section 2 – 5Km 4th 15:54 3 Nov East JPN Corporate team Ekiden Section 3 – 11.95Km 3rd 39:44 11 Oct Marathon 7th 2:29:22 2 Oct National Sports Festival – Niigata 5000m 10 th 16:00.54 26 Sept JPN Corporate team T&F Champ – Okayama 5000m 13h3 16:29.29 30 Aug Hokkaido Marathon – Sapporo Marathon 7th 2:34:17 22 Mar Tokyo Marathon Marathon 1st 2:25:38 22 Feb Yokohama Women’s Ekiden Section 6 – 5.195Km 2nd 16:34 11 Jan Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden – Kyoto Section 9 – 10Km 7th 32:47

2008 Results Date Race Distance Place Time 25 Dec Nittai University - Yokohama 5000m 2r5 15:45.50 14 Dec All JPN Corporate team Women’s Ekiden Champ – Gifu Section 1 – 6.6Km 2nd 20:23 24 Nov Chiba International Ekiden Section 6 – 7.195Km 4th 23:50 3 Nov East JPN Corporate team Ekiden Section 3 – 11.95Km 3rd 38:34 3 Oct National Sports Festival – Oita 5000m 2nd 15:47.44 27 Sept JPN Corporate T&F Champ – Tendo 5000m 3rd 15:45.20 27 Sept JPN Corporate T&F Champ – Tendo 5000m 2h2 15:56.78 28 JPN National Championships – Kawasaki 3000mSC 4th 10:05.37 29 Apr Oda - Hiroshima 3000mSC 2nd 10:06.07 12 Apr Chiba 3000mSC 1st 10:27.21 4 Mar Fukuoka Cross Country 6Km 6th 19:28 24 Feb Yokohama Women’s Ekiden Section 6 – 5.195Km 3rd 17:56 20 Jan Kita Kyushu Women’s Ekiden Section 2 – 5.9Km 2nd 19:14 13 Jan Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden – Kyoto Section 9 – 10Km 17 th 32:44

Defending Tokyo Marathon Champion, Mizuho Nasukawa will attempt to become the first to defend the Tokyo Marathon title in its history. Nasukawa won the last year’s race in 2:25:38, which was more than four minutes improvement of her personal best, set in her marathon debut at 2004 Osaka Ladies Marathon. But that is not all. Nasukawa covered the 5Km section from 35 to 40Km in 17:46, only sub-18 minutes lap time by women in the race. Originally an 800m runner in high school, Nasukawa was eighth in national inter-high school championships. After high school, she sought guidance from legendary Yoshio Koide, who urged Nasukawa to try the marathon. However, she had a fear of distance originally. She finally ventured into the marathon at the 2004 Osaka Ladies Marathon, where she finished respectable fourth with 2:29:49. She considered this race as her most memorable race because it was her first race as a member of new Aruze Athletes club. A year later, she returned to Osaka and finished eighth in 2:30:15. Had she improved her marathon performance in her second marathon, Nasukawa could have been concentrating at the marathon by 2006. However, she decided to go back to track races and set a 5000m personal best of 15:23.00 in 2006. Then in 2008 she ventured into 3000mSC and set the best of 10:05.37 when Nasukawa finished fourth at the national championships. After the Tokyo Marathon, Nasukawa ran two more in 2009 – Hokkaido marathon in August and Chicago marathon in October, where she ran 2:34:17 and 2:29:22, respectively. Last year before her sensational marathon performance in Tokyo, Nasukawa performed well in the Ekiden. She was fourth fastest in Chiba Ekiden, second fastest in Gifu (JPN Corporate team women’s ekiden championships), sixth fastest in Kyoto (Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden) and second fastest in Yokohama Women’s Ekiden.