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Tokyo Marathon Elite Field (updated)

The Tokyo Marathon elite field is out, and it's a pretty good one. On the women's side are the last 3 winners, Sutume Asefa Kebede, Rosemary Wanjiru and Brigid Kosgei, 2022 world champion Gotytom Gebreslase, last year's Dubai winner Tigist Ketema and another 6 women in the 2:17-2:19 range. Top Japanese draw Ai Hosoda hopes to get into the sub-2:20 club after a 2:20:31 PB in Berlin last fall.

The men's field has 2024 CR breaker Benson Kipruto and 3rd-placer Vincent Ngetich, 2:02:38 man Derese Geleta, Joshua Cheptegei taking another stab at the distance, and another 8 at the 2:03-2:04 level. 2:05-class Japanese men Yohei Ikeda, Ichitaka Yamashita and Kenya Sonota and Paris Olympics 6th-placer Akira Akasaki will be gunning for the 2:04:56 NR, and there are interesting debuts from 10-mile world best holder Benard Koech and Hakone Ekiden star Aoi Ota from 2024-2025 champ Aoyama Gakuin University.

The wheelchair race includes WR holder Catherine Debrunner, CR holder Manuela Schar and NR holder Tsubasa Nakamine, with NR holder, Paris Paralympics bronze medalist and defending champ Tomoki Suzuki eading a men's field that includes Paris Paralympics silver medalist Jin Hua and Paris 4th-placer Daniel Romanchuk as his toughest competition.

Check back closer to race date for a complete preview. JRN's Brett Larner will once again be doing commentary for Nippon TV's live international broadcast of the race.

Tokyo Marathon Elite Field Highlights

Tokyo, 2 Mar. 2025
times listed are athletes' best in last 3 years except where noted
*updated with withdrawals announced 19 Feb.

Women
Sutume Asefa Kebede (Ethiopia) - 2:15:55 (1st, Tokyo 2024)
Brigid Kosgei (Kenya) - 2:16:02 (1st, Tokyo 2022) - withdrawal
Tigist Ketema (Ethiopia) - 2:16:07 (1st, Dubai 2024)
Rosemary Wanjiru (Kenya) - 2:16:14 (2nd, Tokyo 2024)
Hawi Feysa (Ethiopia) - 2:17:25 (1st, Frankfurt 2024)
Gotytom Gebreslase (Ethiopia) - 2:18:11 (1st, Oregon Worlds 2022)
Winfridaw Moraa Moseti (Kenya) - 2:18:25 (2nd, Hamburg 2024)
Mestawut Fikir (Ethiopia) - 2:18:48 (2nd, Berlin 2024)
Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 2:18:55 (3rd, Berlin 2018) - withdrawal
Magdalyne Masai (Kenya) - 2:18:58 (2nd, Frankfurt 2024)
Degitu Azimeraw (Ethiopia) - 2:19:52 (1st, Barcelona 2024)
Ai Hosoda (Japan/Edion) - 2:20:31 (5th, Berlin 2024)
Desi Jisa Mokonin (Bahrain) - 2:20:47 (2nd, Doha 2023)
Yuka Ando (Japan/Shimamura) - 2:21:18 (1st, Nagoya 2024)
Jessica Stenson (Australia) - 2:24:01 (4th, Daegu 2024)
Deshun Zhang (China) - 2:24:05 (4th, Nagoya 2023)
Rie Kawauchi (Japan/Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:25:35 (7th, Osaka Women's 2022)
Kaori Morita (Japan/Panasonic) - 2:26:31 (8th, Tokyo 2023)
Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh (Mongolia) - 2:26:32 (8th, Tokyo 2024)
Shiho Kaneshige (Japan/GRlab Yamaguchi) - 2:29:12 (3rd, Gold Coast 2022)

Men
Benson Kipruto (Kenya) - 2:02:16 (1st, Tokyo 2024)
Derese Geleta (Ethiopia) - 2:02:38 (2nd, Valencia 2024)
Vincent Kipkemoi Ngetich (Kenya) - 2:03:13 (2nd, Berlin 2023)
Tadese Takele (Ethiopia) - 2:03:24 (3rd, Berlin 2023)
Dawit Wolde (Ethiopia) - 2:03:48 (3rd, Valencia 2023)
Birhanu Legese (Ethiopia) - 2:04:44 (3rd, Amsterdam 2023)
Stephen Kissa (Uganda) - 2:04:48 (2nd, Hamburg 2022)
Tsegaye Getachew (Ethiopia) - 2:04:49 (1st, Amsterdam 2022)
Amedework Walelegn (Ethiopia) - 2:04:50 (2nd, Rotterdam 2024)
Titus Kipruto (Kenya) - 2:04:54 (2nd, Amsterdam 2022)
Leul Gebresilase (Ethiopia) - 2:04:56 (2nd, Rotterdam 2022)
Yohei Ikeda (Japan/Kao) - 2:05:12 (6th, Berlin 2024)
Mulugeta Asefa Uma (Ethiopia) - 2:05:33 (1st, Paris 2024)
Ichitaka Yamashita (Japan/Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:05:51 (7th, Tokyo 2023)
Kenya Sonota (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:05:59 (8th, Tokyo 2023)
Suguru Osako (Japan/Nike) - 2:06:13 (9th, Tokyo 2023) - withdrawal
Jie He (China) - 2:06:57 (4th, Wuxi 2024)
Vincent Kibor Raimoi (Kenya/Suzuki) - 2:07:01 (2nd, Fukuoka Int'l 2022)
Hiroto Inoue (Japan/Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:07:09 (10th, Tokyo 2023)
Shaohui Yang (China) - 2:07:09 (2nd, Fukuoka Int'l 2023)
Hendrik Pfeiffer (Germany) - 2:07:14 (3rd, Houston 2024)
Koki Yoshioka (Japan/Kyudenko) - 2:07:28 (11th, Osaka 2023)
Gaku Hoshi (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:07:31 (1st, Osaka 2022)
Akira Akasaki (Japan/Kyudenko) - 2:07:32 (6th, Paris Olympics 2024)
Shin Kimura (Japan/Honda) - 2:07:34 (14th, Tokyo 2024)
Suldan Hassan (Sweden) - 2:07:36 (9th, Sevilla 2024)
Tsubasa Ichiyama (Japan/Sunbelx) - 2:07:44 (3rd, Beppu-Oita 2023)
Tatsuya Maruyama (Japan/Toyota) - 2:07:50 (8th, Berlin 2022)
Yuhei Urano (Japan/Fujitsu) - 2:07:52 (3rd, Osaka 2022)
Hidekazu Hijikata (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 2:08:02 (11th, Tokyo 2022) - withdrawal
Xiangdong Wu (China) - 2:08:04 (10th, Osaka 2024)
Kensuke Horio (Japan/M&A BP) - 2:08:25 (15th, Tokyo 2022)
Kiyoshi Koga (Japan/Yasukawa Denki) - 2:08:30 (4th, Beppu-Oita 2022)
Kenji Yamamoto (Japan/Mazda) - 2:08:33 (18th, Tokyo 2024)
Ryoma Takeuchi (Japan/ND Software) - 2:08:40 (3rd, Hofu 2023)
Naoki Aiba (Japan/Chudenko) - 2:08:44 (5th, Beppu-Oita 2022)
Yuichi Yasui (Japan/Toyota) - 2:08:48 (9th, Beppu-Oita 2023)
Rintaro Takeda (Japan/Yakult) - 2:08:48 (8th, Osaka 2022)
Ken Nakayama (Japan/Honda) - 2:08:52 (17th, Osaka 2024)
Takashi Ichida (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 2:08:57 (10th, Chicago 2023)
Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) - 2:08:59 (37th, Valencia 2023)
Kohei Futaoka (Japan/Chudenko) - 2:09:21 (17th, Tokyo 2023)
Shuho Dairokuno (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 2:09:26 (32nd, Osaka 2023)
Hideyuki Tanaka (Japan/Toyota) - 2:09:27 (21st, Osaka 2024)
Tadashi Isshiki (Japan/NTT Nishi Nihon) - 2:09:32 (11th, Osaka 2022) - withdrawal
Takayuki Iida (Japan/Fujitsu) - 2:09:34 (5th, Prague 2023)
Yuma Morii (Japan/Kyoto T&F Assoc.) - 2:09:59 (8th, Boston 2024)

Debut
Benard Kibet Koech (Kenya/Kyudenko) - 58:45 (1st, RAK Half 2023) - withdrawal
Geoffrey Toroitich (Kenya) - 59:13 (1st, Malaga Half 2023)
Ayumu Kobayashi (Japan/NTT Nishi Nihon) - 1:00:44 (10th, Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Aoi Ota (Japan/Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:30 (8th, Shanghai Half 2024)

Wheelchair Women
Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland) - 1:34:16 (1st, Berlin 2023)
Eden Rainbow-Cooper (Great Britain) - 1:34:17 (2nd, Berlin 2023) - withdrawal
Manuela Schar (Switzerland) - 1:36:43 (1st, Tokyo 2023)
Wakako Tsuchida (Japan/Willraise) - 1:37:59 (1st, Oita 2022)
Madison De Rozario (Australia) - 1:44:19 (4th, Tokyo 2024)
Tsubasa Nakamine (Japan/Misato SS) - 1:44:34 (7th, Tokyo 2024)
Susannah Scaroni (U.S.A.) - 1:48:05 (1st, New York 2024)
Zhou Zhaoqian (China) - 1:52:09 (5th, Paris Paralympics 2024)

Wheelchair Men
Jin Hua (China) - 1:18:31 (1st, Oita 2024) - withdrawal
Daniel Romanchuk (U.S.A.) - 1:20:37 (2nd, Boston 2024)
Tomoki Suzuki (Japan/Toyota) - 1:23:05 (1st, Tokyo 2024)
Luo Xingchuan (China) - 1:23:49 (2nd, Chengdu 2023)
Ryota Yoshida (Japan/SUS) - 1:26:49 (4th, Oita 2023)
Sho Watanabe (Japan/Toppan) - 1:31:03 (3rd, Tokyo 2024)
Kota Hokinoue (Japan/Line Yahoo) - 1:31:06 (5th, Tokyo 2024)
Byunghoon Yoo (South Korea) - 1:38:56 (12th, Oita 2024)

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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