Skip to main content

Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Tokyo Marathon is back to holding its race in the same year as its name, and it's got pretty good fields on both the women's and men's sides. The women's race draws pretty heavily on last fall's Berlin Marathon, with Japan-based Rosemary Wanjiru leading 3 of Berlin's top 4 alongside 2021 Tokyo runner-up Ashete Bekere, 2022 Seoul winner Joan Chelimo Melly, and 2022 Amsterdam 3rd-placer Tsehay Gemechu. 

That group of 6 is all in the 2:17:58~2:18:59 range, exactly where the JAAF would like to see the top Japanese woman. Even with super shoes nobody has touched Mizuki Noguchi's 2:19:12 NR in the almost 18 years since it was set, not that women-only NR holder Mao Ichiyama and last year's Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Mizuki Matsuda haven't tried. Maybe this'll be the year. Maybe not.

Tokyo race director Tad Hayano generally hasn't cared at all about having internationals beyond that top tier, but this year there's actually a decent raft of them at the 2:23~2:32 level, including Australian master Lisa Weightman and 2022 Gold Coast Marathon winner Lindsay Flanagan. They'll be perfectly positioned to pace the Japanese women in the field who haven't yet qualified for October's Olympic marathon trials, which will take 2:28:00 and a top 3 Japanese finish, 2:27:00 and a top 6 Japanese finish, 2:24:00 or better if outside top 6, or have two races averaging 2:28:00 or better.

The men's side draws heavily on the podium from last October's Amsterdam Marathon, with winner Tsegay Getachew leading 9 current sub-2:05 men including 2021 London winner Sisay Lemma, 2022 Hamburg winner Cyprian Kotut and Japanese NR holder Kengo Suzuki. 5000 m NR holder Suguru Osako, back from his mysterious 6-month-to-the-day retirement, is also in the race, making it an interesting head-to-head between the two fastest Japanese men ever.

The Arata Fujiwara-coached 59:51 half marathoner Vincent Raimoi is an intriguing dark horse, 2:07:01 for 2nd in his debut at December's Fukuoka International Marathon while only acting as a pacer in training partner Michael Githae's workouts but coming to Tokyo this time to do it for real. 4th at the Oregon World Championships last year, Canada's Cam Levins is in it too with the 22nd-best recent time in the field, 2:07:09, putting him right behind 2020 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Yuya Yoshida.

Most interesting among the debuting men is the super-talented but super-fragile Ken Nakayama, 1:00:38 for 2nd at last year's National Corporate Half. 2023 Hakone Ekiden champ Komazawa University is fielding sub-61 half marathoner Chikara Yamano in his pre-grad debut, and off a great run at last weekend's National Men's Ekiden visually-impaired Hakone star Yudai Shimazu from Soka University will be taking another stab at the marathon pre-grad following a DNF in his debut in Tokyo last year. They'll all need to be in the top 3 Japanese placers and 2:10:00 or better, top 6 and 2:09:00 or under, 2:08:00 for any lower placing, or have two races averaging 2:10:00 to make the Olympic trials.

JRN's Brett Larner will be soloing the commentary on the Fuji TV international broadcast again this year. See you then.

Tokyo Marathon Elite Field Highlights

Tokyo, 5 Mar. 2023
times listed are best in last 3 years except where noted

Women
Ashete Bekere (Ethiopia) - 2:17:58 (2nd, Tokyo 2021)
Rosemary Wanjiru (Kenya/Starts) - 2:18:00 (2nd, Berlin 2022)
Tigist Abayechew (Ethiopia) - 2:18:03 (3rd, Berlin 2022)
Joan Chelimo Melly (Romania) - 2:18:04 (1st, Seoul 2022)
Worknesh Edesa (Ethiopia) - 2:18:51 (4th, Berlin 2022)
Tsehay Gemechu (Ethiopia) - 2:18:59 (3rd, Amsterdam 2022)
Mao Ichiyama (Shiseido) - 2:20:29 (1st, Nagoya 2020)
Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) - 2:20:52 (1st, Osaka Int'l 2022)
Ai Hosoda (Edion) - 2:21:42 (9th, London 2022)
Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 2:23:05 (3rd, Osaka Int'l 2022)
Antonina Kwambai (Kenya) - 2:23:20 (1st, Toronto Waterfront 2022)
Lisa Weightman (Australia) - 2:24:00 (15th, Berlin 2022)
Yukari Abe (Kyocera) - 2:24:02 (5th, Osaka Int'l 2022)
Lindsay Flanagan (U.S.A.) - 2:24:35 (1st, Gold Coast 2022)
Kotona Ota (Japan Post) - 2:25:56 (8th, Nagoya Women's 2022)
Natasha Cockram (Great Britain) - 2:26:14 (18th, Valencia 2022)
Hanae Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) - 2:26:49 (5th, Nagoya Women's 2021)
Kaori Morita (Panasonic) - 2:27:38 (10th, Tokyo 2022)
Betsy Saina (U.S.A.) - 1:11:13 (4th, Tokyo Legacy Half 2022)

Men
Sisay Lemma (Ethiopia) - 2:04:01 (1st, London 2021)
Bernard Koech (Kenya) - 2:04:09 (2nd, Amsterdam 2021)
Dawit Wolde (Ethiopia) - 2:04:27 (3rd, Rotterdam 2021)
Cyprian Kotut (Kenya) - 2:04:47 (1st, Hamburg 2022)
Stephen Kissa (Uganda) - 2:04:48 (2nd, Hamburg 2022)
Tsegay Getachew (Ethiopia) - 2:04:49 (1st, Amsterdam 2022)
Deso Gelmisa (Ethiopia) - 2:04:53 (6th, Valencia 2020)
Titus Kipruto (Kenya) - 2:04:54 (2nd, Amsterdam 2022)
Kengo Suzuki (Fujitsu) - 2:04:56 (1st, Lake Biwa 2021) - withdrawn
Mohamed Esa (Ethiopia) - 2:05:05 (5th, Amsterdam 2022)
Suguru Osako (GMO) - 2:05:29 (4th, Tokyo 2020)
Mike Kiptum Boit (Kenya) - 2:06:08 (4th, Barcelona 2022)
Brimin Misoi (Kenya) - 2:06:11 (1st, Frankfurt 2022)
Hidekazu Hijikata (Asahi Kasei) - 2:06:26 (2nd, Lake Biwa 2021)
Deme Tadu Abate (Ethiopia) - 2:06:28 (3rd, Berlin 2022)
Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:06:35 (3rd, Lake Biwa 2021)
Ryu Takaku (Yakult) - 2:06:45 (8th, Tokyo 2020)
Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:06:47 (4th, Lake Biwa 2021)
Mohamed Reda El Aaraby (Morocco) - 2:06:55 (7th, Paris 2022)
Vincent Raimoi (Kenya/Suzuki) - 2:07:01 (2nd, Fukuoka Int'l 2022)
Yuya Yoshida (GMO) - 2:07:05 (1st, Fukuoka Int'l 2020)
Cam Levins (Canada) - 2:07:09 (4th, Oregon Worlds 2022)
Kenya Sonota (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:07:14 (7th, Berlin 2022)
Masato Kikuchi (Makes) - 2:07:20 (8th, Lake Biwa 2021)
Gaku Hoshi (Konica Minolta) - 2:07:31 (1st, Osaka 2022)
Shun Yuzawa (SGH) - 2:07:31 (8th, Tokyo 2022)
Kazuki Muramoto (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:07:36 (11th, Lake Biwa 2021)
Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:07:42 (2nd, Osaka 2022)
Yuta Shitara (Honda) - 2:07:45 (16th, Tokyo 2020)
Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda) - 2:07:54 (15th, Lake Biwa 2021)

Debut/Do-Over
Ken Nakayama (Honda) - 1:00:38 (2nd, Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Chikara Yamano (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:00:40 (4th, Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Tatsuya Oike (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:01:23 (18th, Nat'l Corp. Half 2021)
Yudai Okamoto (Sunbelx) - 27:50.64 (3rd, Hachioji Long Distance 2022)
Paul Onyiego (Kenya/FSNM) - 27:51.59 (10th, Nittai Univ. Time Trials 2021)
Yudai Shimazu (Soka Univ.) - 1:03:18 (12th, Sendai Half 2022)

© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
82 comments
Read more

Batt-Doyle and Strintzos Break Records at Launceston Half

Australians Isobel Batt-Doyle and Haftu Strintzos turned in record-breaking performances to win the McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon in Tasmania. Running with a private male pacer, NR holder Batt-Doyle dusted the field with the fastest half marathon ever by an Australian woman on Australian soil, a 1:08:46 CR that put her 2 and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Genevieve Gregson . Last year's runner-up Yumi Yoshikawa was almost a minute back from Gregson in 3rd in 1:12:03, but was almost run down by club runner Ayaka Shimoyamada . Starting slow in her international debut, Shimoyamada moved up from 7th over the 2nd half of the race to finish 4th in 1:12:06, kicking hard in the home straight to try to catch Yoshikawa and momentarily blacking out after finishing. Kaho Onishi was 7th in 1:12:45 in her own international debut. The men's half had pacing set at 2:53/km to try to deliver the first-ever sub-61 half marathon on Australian soil. CR holde...
Post a Comment
Read more

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...
Post a Comment
Read more