Skip to main content

The Greatest Day in Japanese Men's Marathoning History



This isn't going to be a race recap. Past Tokyo Marathon champs Dickson Chumba of Kenya and Birhane Dibaba of Ethiopia running smart races, working hard after 30 km to each score a second Tokyo title, Dibaba negative splitting her way to a 2:19:51 PB just 4 seconds off the course record and Chumba running away to win in 2:05:30. London World Championships bronze medalist Amy Cragg living up to her pre-race vow to make the top three in PB time, taking 3rd in 2:21:42. Cancer survivor Satoru Kasuya delivering his best performance since almost dying five years ago, an emotional 2:14:37 for 30th.

What this is about is today, the day, the one that's been coming. Yuta Shitara getting it right, strong, unafraid, in control when he needed to be, finding what he needed when it counted, breaking the 16-year-old Japanese national record in 2:06:11 and winning a million dollar bonus for it. But not just him. Hiroto Inoue, just as strong, just as in control, never giving up even when Shitara got away, only the 5th Japanese man to break 2:07 at 2:06:54 for 5th. But not just him. Four more Japanese men under 2:09 and another three under 2:10, all of them for the first time. Nine Japanese men under 2:10, evaporating the old record of six from the classic 2003 Fukuoka International Marathon. But not just them. Amateur club runner Asuka Tanaka leading another four Japanese men under 2:11, all for the first time. And on and on.

This was the day. The greatest in Japanese men's marathoning history. The day today's Hakone Ekiden stars truly stepped up to the marathon and ran it the way that made them national celebrities in college at Hakone. The day that's always seemed frustratingly around the corner somewhere. The day that all the pent-up talent and potential broke through everything holding it back and swept away all the doubts and timidity. Is Hakone destroying Japan's future marathoners? NO. Is all the progress at the university level just maxing them out younger with nowhere to go? NO. Are today's Japanese men just a bunch of timid cosplayers who can't really compete at the international level? NO. This was the Japan that's been waiting to break through, the one that's brash, confident and strong. The one that's going to welcome the world to race them in Tokyo in 2 1/2 years. The one that knows who it is. I knew it was coming. It's about time.



Tokyo Marathon

Tokyo, 2/25/18
top 500 women's results and splits
top 500 men's results and splits

Women
1. Birhane Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 2:19:51 - PB
2. Ruti Aga (Ethiopia) - 2:21:19
3. Amy Cragg (U.S.A.) - 2:21:42 - PB
4. Shure Demise (Ethiopia) - 2:22:07
5. Helah Kiprop (Kenya) - 2:28:58
6. Hiroko Yoshitomi (Japan/Memolead) - 2:30:16 - PB
7. Madoka Nakano (Japan/Noritz) - 2:31:41 - PB
8. Mao Uesugi ('Japan/Starts) - 2:31:49 - PB
9. Marie Imada (Japan/Iwatani Zosen) - 2:32:00 - PB
10. Meixia Zhang (China) - 2:33:02 - PB
11. Asuka Yamamoto (Japan/Osaka Gakugei Univ.) - 2:34:26 - debut
12. Yoshiko Sakamoto (Japan/YWC) - 2:35:40 - PB
13. Nana Sato (Japan/Starts) - 2:37:34 - debut
14. Yumiko Kinoshita (Japan/SWAC) - 2:38:51
15. Haruka Yamaguchi (Japan/AC Kita) - 2:39:42
-----
DNF - Purity Cherotich Rionoripo (Kenya)
DNF - Anna Hahner (Germany)

Men
1. Dickson Chumba (Kenya) - 2:05:30
2. Yuta Shitara (Japan/Honda) - 2:06:11 - NR
3. Amos Kipruto (Kenya) - 2:06:33
4. Gideon Kipketer (Kenya) - 2:06:47
5. Hiroto Inoue (Japan/MHPS) - 2:06:54 - PB
6. Feyisa Lilesa (Ethiopia) - 2:07:30
7. Ryo Kiname (Japan/MHPS) - 2:08:08 - PB
8. Chihiro Miyawaki (Japan/Toyota) - 2:08:45 - PB
9. Kenji Yamamoto (Japan/Mazda) - 2:08:48 - PB
10. Yuki Sato (Japan/Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:08:58 - PB
11. Mohamed El Aaraby (Morocco) - 2:09:18 - PB
12. Kohei Ogino (Japan/Fujitsu) - 2:09:36 - PB
13. Tadashi Isshiki (Japan/GMO) - 2:09:43 - PB
14. Akinobu Murasawa (Japan/Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:09:47 - PB
15. Simon Kariuki (Kenya/Nihon Yakka Univ.) - 2:10:00 - debut
16. Asuka Tanaka (Japan/Yutori RC) - 2:10:13 - PB
17. Hiroki Yamagishi (Japan/GMO) - 2:10:14 - PB
18. Daichi Kamino (Japan/Konica Minolta) - 2:10:18 - PB
19. Kengo Suzuki (Japan/Kanagawa Univ.) - 2:10:21 - debut
20. Tsegaye Mekonnen (Ethiopia) - 2:10:26
21. Juan Luis Barrios (Mexico) - 2:10:55 - PB
22. Hiroaki Sano (Japan/Honda) - 2:12:17
23. Masanori Sakai (Japan/Kyudenko) - 2:13:31
24. Kazuya Ishida (Japan/Nishitetsu) - 2:13:50
25. Yoshiki Koizumi (Japan/Raffine) - 2:13:50 - PB
-----
30. Satoru Kasuya (Japan/Toyota Boshoku) - 2:14:37
42. Yoshiki Kawauchi (Japan/Jaybird) - 2:17:27 - PB
-----
DNF - Vincent Kipruto (Kenya)
DNF - Wilson Kipsang (Kenya)
DNF - Tatsunori Hamasaki (Japan/Nanjo City Hall)
DNF - Minato Oishi (Japan/Toyota)
DNF - Hiroyuki Yamamoto (Japan/Konica Minolta)

photos © 2018 kanon, all rights reserved
text © 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

André Roukema said…
I'm looking forward to your longread about this incredible day for Japanse marathon running.
February 25, 2018 at 8:23 PM
jzstiner said…
Thx you for your write up..!
February 26, 2018 at 2:37 AM
Metts said…
You might say the "hardcore amateur" is alive and well in Japan compared to other countries,and the only country where they might still exist today. A 2:42 for top 500 reminds me of Boston in the late 70's and early 80's. Excellent! And the women's results too! I was watching as they were doing interviews just past the finish line, just before the 3:00 mark, and the finishers just kept streaming in. Might we say running is a part of the Japanese "lifestyle".
February 26, 2018 at 11:27 AM
Geoff B said…
That’s a good day for Yoshiki Kawauchi. Was he selected for the 2018 IAU 100km squad this year (or pursuing qualification)?
February 27, 2018 at 8:43 AM
Brett Larner said…
Yes, it was a PB by a minute for Yoshik just a week after running 2:22 in Kitakyushu, his third sub-2:20 in 2 1/2 months. 100k selection will be based on Saromako in June.
February 28, 2018 at 12:25 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...
4 comments
Read more

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...
2 comments
Read more

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...
2 comments
Read more