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The restructuring of the Japanese Olympic team selection process opened the door halfway for Japanese women to take part in Tokyo, where they have in the past been barred from national team selection. No top-level women seem to have taken the bait, however, leaving the home crowd, a collection of recently-reitred and developing corporate runners and upper-tier amateurs, one level below the internationals. At the 2:31~32 level Yukiko Okuno (Shiseido) and Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead) are the probable favorites for top Japanese, but look also for the last two Osaka Marathon winners Yumiko Kinoshita (SWAC) and Yoshiko Sakamoto (YWC) to try to break into the top ten.
Before the 2017 race Kipsang said he would tackle the world record on the new and nominally improved Tokyo course, but, mostly alone after 30 km it took all he had to run 2:03:58. He's back as the favorite despite a pair of DNFs in Berlin and his primary tuneup race for it last year, having turned in a 2:10-level runner-up day in NYC in November. On paper his toughest competition are Ethiopians Tesfaye Abera and Tsegaye Mekonnen, both with 2:04 times from Dubai two years ago but right around 2:07 at their best since then. 2014 and 2016 Tokyo winners Dickson Chumba (Kenya) and Feyisa Lilesa (Ethiopia) and the last two years' runners-up Gideon Kipketer (Kenya) and Bernard Kipyego (Kenya) are all back, but a darkhorse contender for KIpsang's toughest competition may be Amos Kipyego (Kenya), 2:05 in both of his marathons last year including a win in Seoul. A wildcard is the talented Simon Kariuki (Kenya/Nihon Yakka Univ.), winner of November's Ageo City Half Marathon and entered in both Beppu-Oita and Tokyo for his debut.
Last year three Japanese men, Yuta Shitara (Honda), Hiroto Inoue (MHPS) and Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) tried to stay with the lead group, Inoue toughing out a 2:08:22 after going through halfway just under 1:03, Shitara more or less surviving a wild 1:01:55 first half to end up in 2:09:27 in his debut, and Ichida fading in his own debut to 2:19:24. All three are back along with Hiroyuki Yamamoto (Konica Minolta), 10th last year in 2:09:12. Shitara's 2:09 Honda teammates Hiroaki Sano and Suehiro Ishikawa add to the sub-2:10 depth, and further down there are plenty of names like Tadashi Isshiki (GMO), Yuki Sato (Nissin Shokuhin), Daichi Kamino (Konica Minolta), Chihiro Miyawaki (Toyota) and Akinobu Murasawa (Nissin Shokuhin) who millions of fans would love to see make a breakthrough. Hakone Ekiden stars Kengo Suzuki (Kanagawa Univ.), the 2017 National University Half Marathon champion, and Keisuke Hayashi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ), who broke Shitara's Hakone Seventh Stage course record earlier this month, add to the buzz in their debuts.
Since his debut Shitara has been on a roll, improving his marathon best to 2:09:03 in Berlin, running 10000 m and 10 mile PBs, and, most impressively, setting a half marathon national record of 1:00:17. He's won his last three races, December's Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler and the longest stages at both the New Year Ekiden and this past weekend's National Men's Ekiden. The only thing matching the level of his running game is his talk. Shitara is talking national record, under 2:06:16 to be precise, in Tokyo, a mark that would bring a nearly million-dollar bonus independent of Tokyo's prizes and bonuses via the Project Exceed program. There's not much doubt that he could get to at least 2:06 territory with a controlled and disciplined run like Sondre Moen's in Fukuoka in December, but so far it doesn't look like those are two words that Shitara would use to describe his approach to the marathon. No fear, come what may. Come February 25th, we'll all see just what that may may be.
The Tokyo Marathon will be broadcast live on Feb. 25. Foe the third year in a row, JRN's Brett Larner will host the international TV broadcast, this year presented by Fuji TV. You can also follow the race live on @JRNLive. Check back closer to race date for more detailed previews and more info on how to follow all the action live.
