Kawauchi Joins Elite Club of 11+ Sub-2:10 Marathoners

by Brett Larner

With his 2:09:54 at Sunday's Ehime Marathon Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) became the fifteenth runner in history to run sub-2:10 eleven times or more in his career. The achievement puts him in distinguished company, including two marathon world record setters, seven Olympic marathon medalists, seven World Championships marathon medalists, three World Marathon Majors champions and eight winners of the six races now making up the World Marathon Majors.

Kawauchi is one of only three non-African athletes to make the list, one of four on the list without either an Olympic or World Championships medal or a win at one of the Big Six, one of four to have not broken 2:07, and, with a PB of 2:08:14, the only one who has not run sub-2:08. A sub-2:08 PB and a World Championships medal remain the major goals of his career.

Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) - 16 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:04:38
2013 World Marathon Majors champion
1st, 2013 London Marathon
1st, 2012 Chicago Marathon
1st, 2010 London Marathon
bronze, 2009 Berlin World Championships
bronze, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Emmanuel Mutai (Kenya) - 14 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:03:14
2011 World Marathon Majors champion
1st, 2011 London Marathon
silver, 2009 Berlin World Championships

Jaouad Gharib (Morocco) - 14 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:05:27
silver, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
gold, 2005 Helsinki World Championships
gold, 2003 Paris World Championships

Yemane Tsegay (Ethiopia) - 13 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:04:48
silver, 2015 Beijing World Championships

Feyisa Lelisa (Ethiopia) - 13 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:04:52
silver, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games
1st, 2016 Tokyo Marathon
bronze, 2011 Daegu World Championships

Abdelkader El Mouaziz (Morocco) - 13 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:06:46
1st, 2001 London Marathon
1st, 2000 New York City Marathon
1st, 1999 London Marathon

Stefano Baldini (Italy) - 13 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:07:22
gold, 2006 Goteborg European Championships
gold, 2004 Athens Olympic Games
bronze, 2003 Paris World Championships
bronze, 2001 Edmonton World Championships
gold, 1998 Budapest European Championships

Wilson Kipsang (Kenya) - 12 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:03:13
world record setter
2014 World Marathon Majors champion
1st, 2014 New York City Marathon
1st, 2014 London Marathon
1st, 2013 Berlin Marathon
bronze, 2012 London Olympic Games
1st, 2012 London Marathon

Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) - 12 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:03:59
2-time world record setter
1st, 2009 Berlin Marathon
1st, 2008 Berlin Marathon
1st, 2007 Berlin Marathon
1st, 2006 Berlin Marathon

Sammy Korir (Kenya) - 12 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:04:56

Bernard Kiprop (Kenya) - 12 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:06:19

Abel Kirui (Kenya) - 11 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:05:04
1st, 2016 Chicago Marathon
silver, 2012 London Olympic Games
gold, 2011 Daegu World Championships
gold, 2009 Berlin World Championships

Benson Barus (Kenya) - 11 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:07:07

Bong-ju Lee (South Korea) - 11 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:07:20
gold, 2002 Busan Asian Games
1st, 2001 Boston Marathon
gold, 1998 Bangkok Asian Games
silver, 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games

Yuki Kawauchi (Japan) - 11 times sub-2:10

PB: 2:08:14
bronze, 2014 Incheon Asian Games

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...

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...

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...

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