The 26-year-old from Japan's industrial heartland of Nagoya ignored the heat and humidity of Bangkok and cruised to victory in a time of two hours 21 minutes 46 seconds. The performance, in temperatures of up to 28 celsius was only 59 seconds behind the world best of 2:20.47 set by Kenya's Tegla Loroupe in Rotterdam April.

Silver went to North Korean Kim Chang, who arrived at the Thammasat University Stadium clinging to the heels of Japan's Tomoko Kai but sprinted away in the final 100 metres of the race. Kim finished in 2:34.54. With Japanese World Champion Hiromi Suzuki ruled out of the race because of a foot operation, Takahashi started as hot favourite. The runner, who trains at high altitude in the US state of Colorado, left the pack standing and built up a lead of six minutes afteronly 15km. Takahashi's performance will set her up to run in the World Athletic Championships in Seville, Spain, next year and the runner said she was also looking ahead to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Many experts are already proclaiming her gold medal performance as the greatest in the history of women's marathon running.