Tokyo Marathon Preview – Brett Larner – Japan Running News

Both the women’s and men’s races have great fields lined up. On the women’s side is last year’s winner and CR-breaker Sutume Asefa Kebede, facing 2024 Dubai and Berlin winner Tigist Ketema, 2023 Tokyo winner Rosemary Wanjiru, 2024 Frankfurt winner Hawi Feysa, 2022 World Championships gold medalist and 2023 World Championships silver medalist Gotytom Gebresslase, 2024 Lanzhou winner Magdalene Masai, 2024 Barcelona winner Degitu Azimeraw, 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando, 2023 Olympic Trials 3rd-placer Ai Hosoda and more.

Sutume ran her best of 2:15:55 in winning Tokyo last year and followed up with a 2:17:32 for 2nd in Chicago after switching brands from Nike to On. At the pre-race press conference she said, “I’ve covered everything in training, long distance, speed work, everything. I’m in PB shape.” But Tigist, Wanjiru and Hawi all ran faster than Sutume’s Chicago time in their most recent marathons, so it might take something close to that kind of time to win it. Speaking in Japanese, Wanjiru got laughs at the press conference when asked if it would take a 2:15 to win and she answered, “Yeah, well, I guess we’ll see, huh?”

Hosoda is Japan’s top bet in the women’s race, 3rd at there 2023 Paris Olympic trials but was bumped down to alternate after Honami Maeda later ran a national record in Osaka. Hosoda said that she trained for Tokyo in warm conditions on Amami Oshima and is confident if it’s warm, and with a smooth buildup without any setbacks she will be aiming to better her 2:20:31 PB. 32 seconds better and she’ll become the 6th Japanese woman under 2:20.

The men’s race has last year’s CR-breaking winner and Paris Olympics marathon bronze medalist Benson Kipruto, 5000/10000m world record holder and Paris Olympics 10000 m gold medalist Joshua Cheptegei, Paris Olympics 5th and 6th-placers Deresa Geleta and Akira Akasaki, this year’s Xiamen winner Dawit Wolde, 2024 Amsterdam winner Tsegaye Getachew, 2022-2023 Seoul winner Amedework Walelegn, 2023 World Championships bronze medalist Leul Gebresilase, 2024 Paris and Toronto winner Mulugeta Asefa Uma, debuting Hakone Ekiden star Aoi Ota, and millions more.

Kipruto, Deresa and Birhanu Legese are the only ones in the field to have run under 2:03, and with 2:03 men Vincent Kipkemoi Ngetich, Tadese Tekele and Dawit, Cheptegei in his second stab at the distance, and a raft of people at the 2:04-05 level, it’s going to be deep up front where pace groups are currently set at 2:53/km (2:01:40 pace), 2:55/km (2:03:04 pace) and 2:57/km (2:04:29 pace). At the pre-race press conference Kipruto predicted a fast race with a 60:50 first half, Deresa slightly more conservative was a 2:02 finish prediction. Cheptegei said on the one hand that he wouldn’t be returning to the track and would be focusing on the marathon in the future, telling media, „I’m better-prepared than I was in Valencia, and I’m ready to rise again in the land of the rising sun.“ But on the other he downplayed expectations, saying, „I’m still a student of the marathon. I’m on a learning curve and hope to learn from the big guys in the marathon like Benson and Geleta.“

Targeting spots on the home team for September’s Tokyo World Championships, most of the Japanese men will probably go with that 3rd group, or at least would be smart to if there isn’t a 4th group at 2:59. The biggest hope is Yohei Ikeda, all-time Japanese #2 2:05:12 for 6th in Berlin last fall and coached by former NR holder Toshinari Takaoka. Stellar in his most recent race, Ikeda won the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden’s 21.9 km 2nd leg in 1:01:48, equivalent to a 59:33 half marathon. That predicts a 2:05:03 marathon, which puts him right on the cusp of the 2:04:56 NR. „There’s a great international and domestic field here, and I want to race for a good placing without worrying about exactly what time,“ he said.

Akasaki is the other big hope, running beyond his credentials in almost every big race of his career to date and dropping a 2-minute PB of 2:07:32 for 6th at the Paris Olympics. This is his big chance to take that time to the next level. „It’s been over 6 months since the Olympics, and I’m ready to go for time,“ he said. „I’m going for a PB, but I don’t have a particular time goal. I just want to focus on my own running and go where that gets me.“

Ota, one of the star runners from this year’s Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University, ran the equivalent of a 58:56 half marathon at last year’s Hakone, predicted 2:03:46 potential. He wasn’t quite at that level in his last year of college this past season, but he still says he’ll go with the first group no matter what. With AGU runners Hiroki Wakabayashi and Asahi Kuroda having set collegiate marathon records of 2:06:07 and 2:06:05 in the last month that has to be a minimum goal for Ota.

Tokyo Marathon Elite Field Highlights