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

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...
1 comment
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview

The Nagoya Women's Marathon , the world's largest women-only marathon and the last race in the selection cycle for September's Tokyo World Championships, happens Sunday. Weather conditions are looking better than what they had in Tokyo and Osaka the last two weekends, 7Ëš at the start and rising to 12Ëš with sunny skies. The wind looks a bit stronger than ideal, but it could be worse. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. Sunday local time, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch the TVer streaming . One option for  a leaderboard is here , and another here . We'll have some coverage on @JRNLive . Just like last time around there are three Ethiopian and Kenyan-born athletes at the top list, this time it being sub-2:20 women Sheila Chepkirui , winner in NYC last year, and Ruti Aga , winner in Xiamen in January, and last year's Nagoya runner-up Eunice Chebichii Chumba . But last year Yuka Ando still pulled off the win, so there's a c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...
1 comment
Read more