Yugeta Mariko

High school teacher. Marathon and 10,000 meters world record holder, (women, 60–64 age group). Born in 1958 in Hannō, Saitama Prefecture. Competed at the national level in middle-distance events in high school and university. She ran her first marathon, the 1982 Tokyo International Women’s Marathon, at 24, finishing in a time of 3:09:21. After raising a family, she returned to the marathon, and in 2019 she became the first woman in her sixties to run a sub-3-hour race, finishing the Shimonoseki Kaikyō Marathon in 2:59:15. She bested her own world record at the 2021 Osaka International Women’s Marathon with a time of 2:52:13.