With 3 weeks to go the elite fields for the Feb. 22 Osaka Marathon are out. Given Osaka's history as the elite men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon the women's field is small, with only one entrant, Sinhala Kureshi, having broken 2:21 with her 2:19:53 in Hamburg last spring. Afera Godfay, Mare Dibaba and Rose Chelimo have all run 2:21 to 2:22 in recent races, and Esther Chemtai is an interesting debut off a 1:08:09 at last fall's Cardiff Half. Kaede Kawamura is the highest-level Japanese woman in the field with a 2:25:44 in Osaka 2 years ago.
Last year's men's champ and CR breaker Yihunilign Adane is back, his main competition being fellow Ethiopians Bute Gemechu, Mulugeta Asefa Uma and South Africa's Elroy Gelant. 4th last year in 2:05:58, Kyohei Hosoya leads the front of the super deep Japanese field along with Kenta Sonota, Kiyoto Hirabayashi, Yuhei Urano, Yusuke Nishiyama and Daisuke Doi.
But where Osaka excels is in debuts. Hirabayashi won 2 years ago in a 2:06:18 debut NR, and last year Ryota Kondo took that to 2:05:39. There are a lot of good first-timers on the list, including sub-61 half marathoners Kento Baba, Tatsuhiko Ito, Reishi Yoshida and Shunsuke Shikama, and a second attempt from former 10000 m NR holder Akira Aizawa after a 2:35:54 disaster in Berlin last year. Ito and Aizawa have always run their best when they're in the same races, so having the pair of them on the line is exciting for the fans who remember their race on the Hakone Ekiden's Second Stage and others.
But, not to start another paragraph with but, turn your attention please a little further down the list to Hibiki Yoshida. Yoshida is the wildman who ran the fastest-ever time by a Japanese man on the Hakone Second Stage last year, 1:05:43 for 23.1 km, a 1:00:02 half marathon equivalent with tough uphills at the end, then went to the next level with an incredible 1:01:01 CR on the New Year Ekiden's 21.9 km Second Stage last month, a 58:48 half marathon equivalent. Skipping out on delivering Japan's first sub-59 marathon, Yoshida says he is going straight for the 2:04:55 marathon NR in Osaka. If so he'll probably end up going it alone, but his runs at Hakone and the New Year Ekiden showed he's more than capable of running by himself when he has to. His New Year Ekiden run suggests 2:03:29 is in range, so let's see how close he gets.
Osaka Marathon Elite Field Highlights
Osaka, 22 Feb. 2026
times listed are athletes' best in last 3 years except where noted
Women
Sinhala Kureshi (Ethiopia) - 2:19:53 (Hamburg 2025)
Afera Godfay (Ethiopia) - 2:21:50 (Toronto 2024)
Mare Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 2:22:36 (Cape Town 2024)
Rose Chelimo (Bahrain) - 2:22:55 (Amsterdam 2025)
Fatima Ezzahra Gardadi (Morocco) - 2:24:12 (Xiamen 2024)
Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo) - 2:25:44 (Osaka 2024)
Kuba Alemu (Ethiopia) - 2:26:43 (Osaka 2025)
Xiaoqian Zheng (China) - 2:29:07 (Nanjing 2025)
Mao Kiyota (Suzuki) - 2:29:20 (Nagoya women's 2023)
Caitlin Adams (Australia) - 2:30:26 (Melbourne 2025)
Miku Hirashima (Tenmaya) - 2:30:49 (Osaka 2023)
Rebecca Lowe (Australia) - 2:30:50 (Valencia 2025)
Tara Palm (Australia) - 2:32:22 (Berlin 2024)
Debut
Mio Kuroda (Kyocera) - 1:44:49 (Kumanichi 30 km 2025)
Esther Chemtai (Kenya) - 1:08:09 (Cardiff Half 2025)
Men
Bute Gemechu (Ethiopia) - 2:04:51 (Dubai 2025)
Mulugeta Asefa Uma (Ethiopia) - 2:05:33 (Paris 2024)
Elroy Gelant (South Africa) - 2:05:36 (Hamburg 2025)
Yihunilign Adane (Ethiopia) - 2:05:37 (Osaka 2025)
Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:05:58 (Osaka 2025)
Kenya Sonota (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:05:59 (Tokyo 2023)
Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Logisteed) - 2:06:18 (Osaka 2024)
Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) - 2:06:23 (Tokyo 2025)
Ibrahim Hassan (Djibouti) - 2:06:31 (Paris 2025)
Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) - 2:06:31 (Tokyo 2024)
Daisuke Doi (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:06:45 (Osaka 2024)
Afewerk Mesfin (Ethiopia) - 2:07:08 (Xiamen 2025)
Toshiki Sadakata (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:07:24 (Osaka 2023)
Shungo Yokota (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:07:25 (Tokyo 2024)
Ezra Kipketer Tanui (Kenya) - 2:07:28 (Doha 2025)
Yuki Takei (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:07:33 (Gold Coast 2025)
Yuki Kawauchi (ANDS) - 2:07:35 (Osaka 2023)
Naoya Sakuda (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:07:39 (Seoul 2025)
Benjamin Choquert (France) - 2:07:42 (Valencia 2023)
Shoma Hosoya (Logisteed) - 2:07:48 (Osaka 2025)
Masaki Sakuda (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:07:49 (Osaka 2023)
Yuta Koyama (Toenec) - 2:07:57 (Osaka 2023)
Xiangdong Wu (China) - 2:08:04 (Osaka 2024)
Tianyu Chen (China) - 2:08:11 (Beijing 2023)
Kento Nishi (Osaka Gas) - 2:08:11 (Osaka 2023)
Kosei Machida (Chuo Hatsujo) - 2:08:17 (Osaka 2025)
Shota Nishiwaki (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:08:19 (Osaka 2025)
Ken Nakayama (Honda) - 2:08:24 (Tokyo 2025)
Patrick Wambui (Kenya/NTT Nishi Nihon) - 2:08:28 (Fukuoka Int'l 2024)
Erenjia Jia (China) - 2:08:32 (Berlin 2024)
Kosei Shiraishi (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:08:42 (Beppu-Oita 2025)
Goki Takayama (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 2:08:50 (Beppu-Oita 2025)
Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) - 2:08:53 (Tokyo 2025)
Benson Tunyo (Kenya) - 2:09:01 (Amsterdam 2025)
Masatoshi Sakata (NTN) - 2:09:08 (Osaka 2025)
Hidekazu Hijikata (Asahi Kasei) - 2:09:10 (Osaka 2024)
Kenta Uchida (SID Group) - 2:09:11 (Osaka 2025)
Yuta Inage (Press Kogyo) - 2:09:14 (Osaka 2025)
Takumi Iwata (JFE Steel) - 2:09:28 (Osaka 2025)
Samuel Tsegay Tesfamariam (Sweden) - 2:09:29 (Hamburg 2025)
Madoka Tanihara (Osaka Police) - 2:09:39 (Osaka 2024)
Jin Yuasa (Toyota) - 2:09:43 (Nobeoka 2025)
Junnosuke Matsuo (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 2:09:55 (Hofu 2025)
Debut/Do-Over
Kento Baba (Rikkyo Univ.) - 1:00:26 (Marugame Half 2025)
Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda) - 1:00:27 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)
Reishi Yoshida (Honda) - 1:00:31 (Marugame Half 2023)
Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed) - 1:00:41 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2024)
Shunsuke Kikuchi (NTN) - 1:01:01 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)
Hiroto Fujimagari (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:01:06 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2024)
Akira Aizawa (Asahi Kasei) - 1:01:20 (Berlin 2025)
Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) - 1:01:45 (Hakodate 2024)
photo © 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
text © 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments