Skip to main content

Ethiopians Negesse and Dibaba Double, Imai 2:07:39 at Tokyo Marathon

by Brett Larner
photos by rikujolove and Dr. Helmut Winter, video by naoki620



Endeshaw Negesse and Birhane Dibaba scored the first-ever Ethiopian double at the Tokyo Marathon, both close to the course records as they won in 2:06:00 and 2:23:15.  Former Hakone Ekiden uphill star Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) made it a show for the home crowd with a 2:07:39 PB for 7th, making him the all-time #6 Japanese man and fastest-ever on the Tokyo course.

With decent weather conditions the massive lead pack went out slower than the 1:02:35 first half planned to get them in range of Ethiopian Tsegay Kebede's 2:05:18 Japanese all-comers' record, Kebede among those up front as they went through half in 1:03:08.  Early casualties included last year's top Japanese man and 2014 Asian Games silver medalist Kohei Matsumura (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki), 2012 Tokyo winner Michael Kipyego (Kenya), debuting great Tariku Bekele (Ethiopia), 2012 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) and London Olympian Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) whose 2:07:48 in 2012 was the fastest time on the Tokyo course by a Japanese man prior to today.

A 2:54 split from 21 to 22 km broke the pack up, and by the time the pacers dropped off at 30 km the Koichi Morishita-coached Imai, 2:10:29 man Hiroaki Sano (Team Honda) and 27:38 track runner Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) were the only Japanese runners left in a lead group of eight Africans including Kebede, Negesse, London Olympics and Moscow World Championships gold medalist Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda) and course record holder Dickson Chumba (Kenya).  Sato and Japan-based Benjamin Ngandu (Kenya/Monteroza) were the first to drop, Sano following shortly to leave Imai struggling to hang on as the pace increased.

Up front, Negesse and Chumba pushed the pace, pulling away from Kiprotich, and the others.  Dropped, coming back, then dropped again, Imai used his uphill skills to catch up to Kebede, Geneti and Some on the bridges after 36 km.  After trading the led, Negesse got a gap that he translated into a 33-second lead over the final kilometers, just missing 2:05 territory as he crossed the finish line in 2:06:00.  Chumba looked set for 2nd but was caught just before the line by an ecstatic Kiprotich, who broke 2:07 for the first time with a new Ugandan national record of 2:06:33. 

Imai got rid of Kebede but faltered in the final stages and lost touch with Dechase, Some and Geneti.  Nevertheless, his 2:07:39 was a major step up, a PB by almost 2 minutes, 9 seconds better than Fujiwara's 2012 time and the fastest by a Japanese man since half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato's 2007 2:07:13.  As the first superstar of the Hakone Ekiden's modern era, Imai's performance was a validation of the KGRR's move to make the ~900 m uphill Fifth Stage Hakone's longest in hopes that it would produce future marathon greats.  With subsequent Fifth Stage stars like Ryuji Kashiwabara, Shota Hattori, Keita Shitara, Kenta Murayama and Daichi Kamino yet to make their marathon debuts Imai's success means the next few years could be bright ones.

Kebede was 8th in 2:07:58, setting new world records as his 15th career sub-2:09, 16th sub-2:10 and 19th sub-2:11.  Further back, Sano and Koji Gokaya (Team JR Higashi Nihon) broke 2:10 for the first time, Sano in 2:09:12 and Gokaya in 2:09:21.  Once again top collegiate honors went to Jobu University senior Shun Sato, a regular in Tokyo the last few years and scoring a 2:11:39 best in his last race before graduating.

The women's lead pack went out firmly ensconced inside a massive pack of Japanese men.  With not a single top-level Japanese woman in the field the group included last year's runner-up Birhane Dibaba (Ethiopia), London Olympics gold medalist Tiki Gelana (Ethiopia), debuting 2014 Copenhagen World Half Marathon bronze medalist Selly Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) and others.  Dibaba ground the others down close to course record pace, but finding herself alone late in the race she couldn't sustain it and slipped to a 2:23:15, missing the course record and Yoko Shibui's age 21 world record of 2:23:11 but still easily getting the win.

Little-known Helah Kiprop (Kenya) dropped Gelana for 2nd in 2:24:03, a PB by more than 3 minutes, with Gelana looking heavily strained as she took 3rd in 2:24:26.  Chepyego outkicked the formerly Japan-based Flomena Cheyech Daniel (Kenya) for 4th in a decent debut time of 2:26:43.  Top Japanese honors went to Madoka Ogi (Team Juhachi Ginko), 7th in 2:30:25.  Two other Japanese women made the top 10, Yukari Abe (Team Panasonic) debuting in 2:34:43 and club runner Yumiko Kinoshita (Second Wind AC) running a 4 minute PB of 2:35:49.

Tokyo Marathon
Tokyo, 2/22/15
click here for top 500 men's results
click here for top 500 women's results

Men
1. Endeshaw Negesse (Ethiopia) - 2:06:00
2. Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda) - 2:06:33 - NR
3. Dickson Chumba (Kenya) - 2:06:34
4. Shumi Dechase (Bahrain) - 2:07:20
5. Peter Some (Kenya) - 2:07:22
6. Markos Geneti (Ethiopia) - 2:07:25
7. Masato Imai (Japan/Toyota Kyushu) - 2:07:39 - PB
8. Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) - 2:07:58
9. Hiroaki Sano (Japan/Honda) - 2:09:12 - PB
10. Benjamin Ngandu (Kenya/Monteroza) - 2:09:18 - PB
11. Koji Gokaya (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:09:21 - PB
12. Yared Asmerom (Eritrea) - 2:09:41
13. Takehiro Deki (Japan/Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:11:14
14. Shun Sato (Japan/Jobu Univ.) - 2:11:39 - PB
15. Tomoyuki Morita (Japan/Kanebo) - 2:11:41
16. Tatsunori Hamasaki (Japan/Komori Corp.) - 2:12:12 - PB
17. Ryo Yamamoto (Japan/SGH Group) - 2:12:46
18. Hirokatsu Kurosaki (Japan/Konica Minolta) - 2:13:16
19. Keiji Akutsu (Japan/Subaru) - 2:13:26 - PB
20. Yuki Sato (Japan/Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:14:15 - PB
21. Makoto Harada (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:14:52
22. Atsushi Hasegawa (Japan/Subaru) - 2:15:18
23. Kenichi Shiraishi (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 2:15:31
24. Hideaki Tamura (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:15:58
25. Kohei Matsumura (Japan/Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:16:08
-----
28. Shun Inoura (Japan/Komazawa Univ.) - 2:17:54 - debut
37. Arata Fujiwara (Japan/Miki House) - 2:19:40
55. Jun Hiratsuka (age 46) (Japan/Team RxL) - 2:23:13
-----
DNF - Adil Annani (Morocco)
DNF - Tariku Bekele (Ethiopia)
DNF - Joseph Gitau (Kenya/JFE Steel)
DNF - Michael Kipyego (Kenya)
DNF - Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Arata Project)

Women
1. Birhane Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 2:23:15
2. Helah Kiprop (Kenya) - 2:24:03 - PB
3. Tiki Gelana (Ethiopia) - 2:24:26
4. Selly Chepyego (Kenya/Kyudenko) - 2:26:43 - debut
5. Flomena Cheyech Daniel (Kenya) - 2:26:54
6. Yeshi Esayias (Ethiopia) - 2:30:15
7. Madoka Ogi (Japan/Juhachi Ginko) - 2:30:25
8. Albina Mayorova (Russia) - 2:34:21
9. Yukari Abe (Japan/Panasonic) - 2:34:43 - debut
10. Yumiko Kinoshita (Japan/SWAC) - 2:35:49 - PB
11. Lauren Kleppin (U.S.A.) - 2:37:13
12. Ayano Kondo (Japan/Noritz) - 2:38:06 - PB
13. Kaori Oyama (Japan/Noritz) - 2:38:43
14. Mayumi Uchiyama (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 2:39:54 - PB
15. Mitsuko Hirose (Japan/Tokyo Wings AC) - 2:40:35

text (c) 2015 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
photos (c) 2015 M. Kawaguchi, all rights reserved
Dibaba and Negesse photos (c) 2015 Dr. Helmut Winter, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
8 comments
Read more

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...
1 comment
Read more

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...
2 comments
Read more