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31 Men Sub-2:10, 112 Sub-2:20 -- Tokyo Marathon Domestic Elite Field


A few days ago the Tokyo Marathon announced the domestic elite field for its 2021 edition being held Mar. 6, 2022, with the caveat that final decisions on whether it would go ahead and whether it would have an international field, originally slated to feature men's world record holder Eliud Kipchoge, would have to wait until Feb. 18. Yesterday the Osaka Marathon announced its field for this year's race on Feb. 27, and like Osaka, Tokyo's field gives away its history as a men-only race. The men's field is even more massive than Osaka's, and the women's field only slightly deeper.

Overall Tokyo is solid, with the men's NR holder, the women-only NR holder, both half marathon NR holders, the last three Fukuoka International Marathon winners, seven men with recent times under 2:07, 31 under 2:10, 112 under 2:20, and two debuting sub-61 half marathoners. Only three women on the list including women-only NR holder Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) have gone sub-2:30 vs. three sub-2:40 in Osaka, meaning that the field at the Nagoya Women's Marathon the week after Tokyo should be pretty good.

Especially notable people in the men's field include NR holder Kengo Suzuki (Fujitsu), two-time 2:06 man Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) who won last month's Osaka Half Marathon in PB time, 2020 Fukuoka winner Yuya Yoshida (GMO), and 2021 Fukuoka winner Michael Githae (Kenya/Suzuki). It's also notable that none of the three men who ran the Tokyo Olympics marathon is entered in Tokyo or any other domestic spring marathon. 

Along with Yoshida a large group from the GMO corporate team and other athletes are entered both here and in Osaka, so the final numbers at both races are likely to be a bit lower than what's on paper. But if the weather's good you can still expect to see massive races both weekends. And expect Ichiyama and Suzuki to give the world record for fastest combined times by a married couple in a single race, 4:27:05 by Kenyans Purity Cherotich Rionoripo and Paul Kipchumba Lonyangata in Paris 2017, a shot.

2021 Tokyo Marathon

Domestic Elite Field Highlights
Tokyo, 6 Mar. 2022
times listed are best in last 3 years except where noted

Men
Kengo Suzuki (Fujitsu) - 2:04:56 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Hidekazu Hijikata (Honda) - 2:06:26 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:06:35 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Ryu Takaku (Yakult) - 2:06:45 (Tokyo 2020)
Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:06:47 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Yusuke Ogura (Yakult) - 2:06:51 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Daisuke Uekado (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:06:54 (Tokyo 2020)
Toshiki Sadakata (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:07:05 (Tokyo 2020)
Yuya Yoshida (GMO) - 2:07:05 (Fukuoka Int'l 2020)
Simon Kariuki (Kenya/Togami Denki) - 2:07:18 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Masato Kikuchi (Konica Minolta) - 2:07:20 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Shin Kimura (Honda) - 2:07:20 (Tokyo 2020)
Kento Kikutani (Toyota Boshoku) - 2:07:26 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Yuta Shimoda (GMO) - 2:07:27 (Tokyo 2020)
Tadashi Isshiki (GMO) - 2:07:39 (Tokyo 2020)
Masaki Sakuda (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:07:42 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Michael Githae (Kenya/Suzuki) - 2:07:51 (Fukuoka Int'l 2021)
Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda) - 2:07:54 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Kenya Sonota (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:08:11 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Kento Otsu (Toyota Kyushu) - 2:08:15 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Naoya Sakuda (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:08:21 (Fukuoka Int'l 2020)
Daisuke Hosomori (YKK) - 2:08:28 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Keisuke Hayashi (GMO) - 2:08:52 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Kazuma Kubo (Nishitetsu) - 2:08:53 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Chihiro Miyawaki (Toyota) - 2:09:04 (Tokyo 2020)
Takumi Kiyotani (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:09:13 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Yuki Sato (SGH Group) - 2:09:18 (Berlin 2018)
Kei Katanishi (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:09:27 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Yuki Takamiya (Yakult) - 2:09:30 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) - 2:09:36 (Fukuoka Int'l 2019)
Takamitsu Hashimoto (Komori Corp.) - 2:09:43 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Keisuke Tanaka (Fujitsu) - 2:10:07 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Kensuke Horio (Toyota) - 2:10:21 (Tokyo 2019)
Akira Tomiyasu (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 2:10:29 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Ryo Matsumoto (Toyota) - 2:10:32 (Lake Biwa 2020)
Ryota Komori (NTN) - 2:10:33 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Takuma Kumagai (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:10:41 (Fukuoka Int'l 2021)
Yuki Nakamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:10:47 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Takuma Shibata (Komori Corp.) - 2:10:48 (Hofu 2020)
Shota Saito (JFE Steel) - 2:10:50 (Beppu-Oita 2020)
Daiji Kawai (Toenec) - 2:10:50 (Lake Biwa 2019)
Junnosuke Matsuo (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 2:11:00 (Beppu-Oita 2020)
Asuka Tanaka (Runlife) - 2:11:07 (Fukuoka Int'l 2020)
Taiki Yoshimura (Asahi Kasei) - 2:11:13 (Hofu 2019)
Toshinori Watanabe (GMO) - 2:11:17 (Katsuta 2020)
Yoshiyuki Hara (Gotemba Takigahara SDF Base) - 2:11:21 (Hofu 2020)
Benard Kimani (Kenya/Comodi Iida) - 2:11:31 (Eindhoven 2019)

Debut / Do-Over
Nicholas Kosimbei (Kenya/YKK) - 1:00:20 (Lisbon Half 2019)
Masashi Nonaka (Osaka Gas) - 1:00:58 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Tomoya Ogikubo (Yakult) - 27:44.74 (Hachioji LD 10000 m 2021)
Naoki Koyama (Honda) - 27:55.16 (HDC Fukagawa 10000 m 2021)

Women
Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) - 2:20:29 (Nagoya 2020)
Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) - 2:28:38 (Nagoya 2021)
Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto) - 2:28:51 (Osaka Int'l 2020)
Hitomi Niiya (Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:30:58 (Nagoya 2009)
Miharu Shimokado (SID Group) - 2:32:48 (Osaka Int'l 2020)
Yui Okada (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:32:00 (Nagoya 2020)
Hitomi Mizuguchi (Uniqlo) - 2:32:33 (Osaka Int'l 2020)
Mai Fujisawa (Hokkaido Excel AC) - 2:35:52 (Kanazawa 2021)
Tomomi Sawahata (Sawahatters) - 2:36:45 (Osaka Int'l 2022)

Debut / Do-Over
Kaori Morita (Panasonic) - 1:10:28 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2021)
Rika Kaseda (Daihatsu) - 31:39.86 (Nat'l Championships 2020)

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Comments

Stefan said…
How exciting! I didn't realize Hitomi Niiya had entered this event. I knew she was training for a race based on Youtube videos posted recently but this is excellent news. Her training efforts looked very promising too. I wouldn't be surprised to see her make MGC qualification. If she can recapture the form she displayed when she broke the national half marathon record and then the 10000m on the track in 2020 then anything is possible for her. I'm really hoping Mao Ichiyama has a solid race. For me, Mao Ichiyama, Hitomi Niiya and Mizuki Matsuda are the big 3 who can challenge for the national record if they are in their best form and have good conditions. Its been a long time since Hitomi Niiya has challenged the full marathon distance. I hope she can endure it well.
February 8, 2022 at 12:00 PM
Andrew Armiger said…
Suzuki v Yoshida is exciting!

With Osako unretiring, where is he anticipated to race next?
February 11, 2022 at 10:31 PM
Brett Larner said…
I received a copy of the international field list a few days ago. You're all going to be happy.
February 12, 2022 at 1:09 PM
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