TOKYO - JAPAN'S Olympic champion Mizuki Noguchi won the Tokyo international women's marathon on Sunday after an injury-hit two-year break, all but securing a ticket to the Beijing Games next year.

The 29-year-old Noguchi duelled with Kenyan Salina Kosgei until 36 kilometres but edged ahead at the start of an uphill section to win the sun-drenched race in two hours 21 minutes and 37 seconds.

Kosgei, who won the 2004 Paris marathon and was the runner-up in the Berlin marathon last year, trailed home in 2:23.31. Italian Bruna Genovese finished third in 2:27.35.

Noguchi's most recent effort was the 2005 Berlin marathon, which she won in 2:19.12, her personal best. But injuries ended her plans to race in Berlin in 2006 and in London last year.

'I was really scared at the starting line because I had been making mistakes including injuries for two years,' Noguchi said with a big smile. 'I think this victory has opened the road to Beijing for me.'

No woman has won a second straight marathon in the Olympics.

Noguchi triumphed at the 2004 Athens Games, overcoming a tough field including Britain's world record holder Paula Radcliffe and Kenyan Catherine Ndereba. Radcliffe pulled out in scorching weather and Ndereba finished second.

The Tokyo race was one of three marathons that the Japanese Association of Athletics Federations set aside as national trials to decide three Olympic berths for Japanese women.

Reiko Tosa has already booked one of the tickets to Beijing by finishing third in this summer's world championships in Osaka in a race won by Ndereba.

Naoko Takahashi, 35, the 2000 Sydney Olympic champion, is among other Japanese marathon women chasing tickets to Beijing in the remaining trials in Osaka in January and in Nagoya in March.

The association will select the full line-up after the three races on the basis of results, medal prospects and other factors. -- AFP