Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing.

Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no domestic athletes. Last year there were no pacers for the women's race, which Waganesh Mekasha won in a pretty modest 2:26:33, and the only part of it that NHK showed was top-placing Japanese runner Anna Matsuda's 5th-place finish. This year there's a group of 4 internationals at the 2:19-2:22 level led by Ethiopian Sinhala Kureshi, probably about right for the home team's Kaede Kawamura to run with in a shot at breaking her 2:25:44 PB from Osaka 2 years ago. Miku Hirashima is a scratch with injury, but first-timers Mio Kuroda and Esther Chemtai are potential adds to the front group, Kuroda with a 1:44:49 at last year's Kumanichi 30 km and Chemtai with a 1:08:09 half marathon best.

The men's race has lost #1-ranked Bute Gemechu and one of its top Japanese men, Daisuke Doi, but it's still set up pretty well to take a stab the 2:05:37 CR set by Yihunlign Adane last year. Yihunlign is back and faces fellow 2:05 runners Mulugeta Asefa Uma, Elroy Gelant, Ichitaka Yamashita, Kyohei Hosoya and Kenya Sonota, plus a second tier of 2:06 people including 2024 winner Kiyoto Hirabayashi, Yuhei Urano, Ibrahim Hassan and Yusuke Nishiyama, 6 debuting sub-61 half marathoners, and the big-talking New Year Ekiden Second Stage CR-breaker Hibiki Yoshida.

At the pre-race press conference Hosoya said that he's in shape to better his 2:05:58 PB from last year, with Nishiyama saying his goal is to win and Hirabayashi that he is just trying to seal up his Olympic trials qualification. That means being in the top 6 Japanese finishers and under 2:09:00, or breaking 2:06:30 if outside the 6 fastest Japanese men. Yoshida's New Year Ekiden run was equivalent to a 58:48 half marathon, which suggests he could run about 2:03:30. He knows it, too, saying he's going for the 2:04:55 NR right out the gate. It's probably too hot and not the right field to have any support trying to do that, but Yoshida rocked Hakone last year and the New Year this year, so good luck to him on making this one something to remember.

Down the field a ways but worth notice is Japan-based American Ethan Shuley. A BYU grad, Shuley has been running on his own in Tokyo and come up a lot over the last year. He ran a 2:11:30 PB in Kobe last fall and almost stole the win at the Osaka Half in January with a 1:01:02 PB. Shuley told JRN that he wants to run 2:06 in Osaka and plans to just go with the field. That might be a bit ambitious, but his Osaka Half time predicts something close to 2:08-flat. If he's anything close to that it should get him some headlines back home.

Osaka Marathon Elite Field Highlights

Osaka, 22 Feb. 2026

complete field listing

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)

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

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)

Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:05:51 (Tokyo 2023)

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)

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)

Koki Yoshioka (Kraftia) - 2:07:28 (Osaka 2023)

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)

Masresha Bere (Ethiopia) - 2:09:04 (Kosice 2023)

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)

Gao Peng (China) - 2:09:34 (Beijing 2023)

Takayuki Iida (Fujitsu) - 2:09:34 (Prague 2023)

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)

Akito Terui (Subaru) - 2:10:06 (Osaka 2025)

Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/Shin Nihon Jusetsu) - 2:10:10 (Osaka 2024)

Daisuke Hosomori (YKK) - 2:10:22 (Tokyo 2023)

Naoki Aiba (Chudenko) - 2:10:28 (Gold Coast 2024)

Haruto Ono (JFE Steel) - 2:10:44 (Osaka 2024)

Yuto Imae (GMO) - 2:10:51 (Gold Coast 2025)

Shun Sadakata (Mazda) - 2:10:57 (Nagano 2023)

Ethan Shuley (U.S.A.) - 2:11:30 (Kobe 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)

Sodai Shimizu (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:00:52 (Marugame Half 2026)

Ryo Goda (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:00:55 (Marugame Half 2026)

Masanori Sumida (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:01 (Marugame Half 2026)

Shunsuke Kikuchi (NTN) - 1:01:01 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)

Hiroto Fujimagari (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:01:06 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2024)

Haruto Miyamoto (Kanagawa Univ.) - 1:01:09 (Marugame Half 2025)

Kosei Matsunami (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:01:12 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)

Akira Aizawa (Asahi Kasei) - 1:01:20 (Berlin Half 2025)

Jinya Ozaki (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:01:24 (Launceston Half 2025)

Seiya Amano (Kraftia) - 1:01:34 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)

Akito Wada (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:35 (Marugame Half 2025)

Kaisei Sugiyama (Kao) - 1:01:38 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)

Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) - 1:01:45 (Hakodate Half 2024)

Yosuke Harada (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 1:01:49 (Marugame Half 2025)

Kaisei Miyaki (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:01:54 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)

Ryo Yoshida (JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:01:58 (Marugame Half 2024)

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...

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