Noguchi Heads for Swiss Alps in Olympic Double Bid

Japan`s Mizuki Noguchi jetted off for high altitude training in the Swiss Alps on Wednesday.

Japan's Mizuki Noguchi jetted off for high altitude training in the Swiss Alps on Wednesday, having put a second Olympic marathon gold ahead of a world title.

Noguchi, who won the Olympic title in 2004, opted to skip this month's world championships in Osaka in order to step up her preparations for the .

The 29-year-old will undergo a month of intensive training regime in St Moritz before competing in the Tokyo International Women's Marathon in November.

"It really does feel like it starts here," Noguchi told reporters. "Tokyo is a race I can't afford to get wrong. I am fully focused. Remembering the last Olympics will help too."

Noguchi has never won a world title but took silver at the 2003 world championships in Paris.

Her Japanese rival Naoko Takahashi, who won gold at the 2000 Olympics, has also taken the high road for her assault on the Beijing Games, training in the mountains of Kunming in southwest China.