Toshiki Sadakata (Mitsubishi Juko) spent most of the way working with American Zach Panning and then CJ Albertson to hit the 2:06:30 Tokyo World Championships standard, ultimately finishing 5 seconds behind Albertson in 8th in 2:08:22.
After getting dropped by the JPN/USA men's group, Tomoki Yoshioka (Kyudenko) ended up running as an unofficial pacer for Chepngetich, but over the second half he couldn't match her strength and faded to 23rd in 2:14:04. Chepngetich picked off the other two Japanese men, 2024 New Year Ekiden national champion Toyota teammates Tatsuya Maruyama and Yuichi Yasui, in turn, Maruyama finishing 18th in 2:11:07 and Yasui having the dubious honor of being the last male athlete to get run down, finishing just behind Chepngetich in 2:10:11 for 13th.
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