Kosgei Runs Fastest-Ever Marathon in Asia, Tadese Repeats, 5 Qualify for Olympic Trials at Tokyo Marathon

Conditions weren't fantastic at the Tokyo Marathon, a bit too warm and sunny, a bit too windy, a lot too much cedar pollen in the air, but it was still a record-breaking day.

Except for a race-morning DNS from men's NR holder Tomoki Suzuki there weren't any surprises in the wheelchair races, where world record holders Catherine Debrunner and Marcel Hug of Switzerland scored solo wins, Debrunner outgunning training partner and all-time #2 Eden Rainbow-Cooper by 4 minutes and Hug winning by 7 minutes in 1:21:09.

The women's marathon was a slow burner, starting behind target pace on track for 2:17:00 at 5 km but ramping up all the way to the finish. CR holder and 2-time defending champ Sutume Asefa Kebede and 2022 champion / former WR holder Brigid Kosgei stayed side-by-side the entire way, shadowed by a pack of Ethiopians that dwindled down to just Bertukan Welde. The projected finish got closer and closer to Sutume's 2:15:55 CR, then past it and into 2:14 territory at 30 km when the official pacers stepped off.

Kosgei then stepped up and on the attack, dropping Sutume and bearing down on her own 2:14:04 PB. For the rest of the race she had support from Ryuichi Yoshioka, an amateur with a 2:10:49 best, going all the way to the last corner together before Yoshioka peeled off to let Kosgei hit the tape alone. 2:14:29 was her time, the 2nd-fastest of her career and the fastest marathon ever run in Asia by almost a minute and a half. It was a brilliant comeback and stellar progression over her last 3 marathons, 2:18:56 for 2nd in Sydney to 2:16:36 for 1st in Shanghai to this.

Sutume dropped off and was passed by Bertukan, who ran a minute+ PB of 2:16:36 for 2nd. Sutume fought to keep 3rd, but right before the line she was overtaken by last year's Chicago winner Hawi Feysa, both clocking 2:17:39 but Feysa taking 3rd for the second year in a row. The top 6 all cleared 2:20, with Japan's Ai Hosoda taking 10th in 2:23:39 in her last race before retiring. Yumi Yoshikawa just missed qualifying for Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials, coming up just short of the 2:27:00 qualifying time in 2:27:21 for 14th.

Last week in Osaka we saw the highly talented Hibiki Yoshida take the race in his hands and try to break it in half over his knee, taking the lead at 8 km and trying to solo a 2:03 in his debut only to fade to 39th in 2:09:35. This time around it was Ryuichi Hashimoto, a 2:09:40 runner who had only ever broken 2:15 once before. Like in the women's race people seemed cautious about the conditions and went out slower than planned, everyone except Hashimoto. He went in it alone with pacer Taisei Nakamura, out on 2:03 pace and then going even harder after Nakamura stopped at 10 km. With a half marathon PB of 1:02:15 he went through 15 km on 2:02:08 pace, 8 seconds under the CR with a 43-second lead and on track to take almost 3 minutes off the NR. Halfway was in 1:01:29, 46 seconds better than his best, but behind him, like in the women's race, the lead pack was getting it in gear.

By 30 km Hashimoto was down to 13th, ultimately dropping to 39th in 2:11:21, which, all things considered, wasn't bad. But the lead group of 10 that overtook him had other things on their minds. On 2:03:48 pace at 30 km when the last pacer dropped, Japan-based 2024 London Marathon champ Alexander Mutiso took over, cutting the group down to just 4 by the last turnaround with 5 km to go.

All the way to the last km it was a 4-way race between Mutiso, 2025 winner Tadese Takele, 2025 Amsterdam Marathon winner Geoffrey Toroitich, and Paris Olympics 10000 m Olympian Daniel Mateiko. Mateiko didn't quite have the chops in the last km, and when Mutiso was distracted and accidentally followed the camera truck to the right of the course ahead of the last lefthand turn after 42 km Tadese took advantage and took off. Toroitich looked like he might get by on the inside of the curve, but Tadese held him off to take his 2nd-straight win, both he and Toroitich clocking 2:03:37 with Mutiso next in 2:03:38.

Mateiko and 5th-placer Muktar Edris both ran PBs, and just behind them Tokyo World Championships bronze medalist Iliass Aouani ran a stellar new Italian NR of 2:04:26 for 6th, the first of at least 3 new NR in the men's race.

Japanese men had 3 ways to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in Tokyo. A sub-2:04 would let them bypass the Trials entirely and get onto the team, with a sub-2:06:30 getting them into the trials regardless of placing and a sub-2:09:00 good enough if inside the top 6 Japanese finishers. Pacing groups were set up to facilitate that happening, but except for Hashimoto nobody went for the sub-2:04 carrot. All-time JPN top 2 Suguru Osako and Kengo Suzuki went on the next group on low-2:05 pace, with last year's top Japanese finisher Tsubasa Ichiyama and others a short way back in the 3rd pace group.

Things broke up after 30 km when China's Peiyou Feng pulled away from the Osako and Suzuki group in pursuit of casualties from the front group. Suzuki initially tried to follow but soon gave up. NR holder Osako was next to try to close it down on Feng, and when he moved Suzuki did too. Osako came one stride short of pulling up on Feng in the last km, but the Chinese athlete wasn't going to let it go that easily. On the last corner he surged, taking a minute off the Chinese NR for 11th in 2:05:58, Osako next in 2:05:59 and Suzuki a short way back in 2:06:09.

More and more top-tier Chinese athletes have been coming to Japan's top races the last few years in pursuit of what happened here: a Chinese athlete beating Japan's very best in its most prestigious race. It was history being written, really. Japan is still leagues ahead in depth, but Feng's stellar run here was surely a major crack in the dam. The break is still years away, but it's only a matter of time.

Ichiyama was the 3rd Japanese finisher in 2:06:58, Kondo 4th in 2:07:06, college student Kudo 5th in 2:07:34 in his debut, and relative unknown Tomohiro Fujimura running a 2-minute PB of 2:08:49 to take the last Olympic trials qualifying spot by just 11 seconds. Ekiden talent Aoi Ota, who debuted in Tokyo last year by going out with the leaders only to DNF after 30 km, tried to run a more controlled race here only to fade to 31st in 2:10:07, just behind Masato Arao, 30th in 2:09:59, who never made his university's starting ekiden rosters. You couldn't ask for a better illustration of how there is a concrete difference between the psychology of running ekidens vs. regular road racing. Actualization of potential lies in part in the intersection of aptitude and appetite, and for all Ota's appetite for becoming a top-tier marathon, his aptitude looks more and more to lie elsewhere.

American Casey Clinger followed up his excellent sub-60 half marathon in Houston in January with a 2:08:43 PB for 24th overall. Further back, Filipino athletes Sonny Montenegro Wagados and Richard San Luis Salano found themselves in the pack with women's winner Kosgei running well under pace to break the 2:18:44 Philippines NR from way back in 2004. Wagados got there first, running a new NR of 2:14:37, with Salano fading slightly but still over 3 minutes under the old NR in 2:15:08. Irish NR holder Fearghal Curtin tried to run 2:05 in the 3rd pack with Ichiyama but ultimately ended up a DNF.

Japan's top-tier winter marathon season and phase one of L.A. trials qualification wraps up next week with the Nagoya Women's Marathon, the world's largest women-only marathon.

Tokyo Marathon

Tokyo, 1 March 2026

complete results

Women

1. Brigid Kosgei (Kenya) - 2:14:29 - ACR

2. Bertukan Welde (Ethiopia) - 2:16:36 - PB

3. Hawi Feysa (Ethiopia) - 2:17:39

4. Sutume Asefa Kebede (Ethiopia) - 2:17:39

5. Megertu Alemu (Ethiopia) - 2:18:50

6. Viola Cheptoo (Kenya) - 2:19:05 - PB

7. Mestawut Fikir (Ethiopia) - 2:20:00

8. Aberu Ayana (Ethiopia) - 2:20:30

9. Pascalia Jepkogei (Kenya) - 2:21:39 - PB

10. Ai Hosoda (Japan/Edion) - 2:23:39

11. Rosemary Wanjiru (Kenya) - 2:24:47

12. Ying Lu (China) - 2:26:35 - PB

13. Zhizuan Li (China) - 2:26:53

14. Yumi Yoshikawa (Japan/Canon AC) - 2:27:21

15. Kristine Engeset (Norway) - 2:28:57

16. Yuyu Xia (China) - 2:29:14

17. Chikako Mori (Japan/Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:29:22 - PB

18. Chisato Kagaya (Japan/Tokyo Metro) - 2:29:30 - PB

19. Sinead Diver (Australia) - 2:29:57

20. Min Liu (China) - 2:30:03

21. Yukari Nagatomo (Japan/Memolead) - 2:30:03 - PB

22. Yuri Karasawa (Japan/Kraftia) - 2:30:29

23. Ayaka Shimoyamada (Japan/TT Runners) - 2:32:09 - PB

24. Miao Yao (China) - 2:32:30

25. Mirai Waku (Japan/Univ. Ent.) - 2:32:45

-----

DNF - Malindi Elmore (Canada)

DNF - Azmera Gebru (Ethiopia)

DNF - Sarah Hall (U.S.A.)

DNF - Waganesh Mekasha (Ethiopia)

DNF - Mekides Shimeles (Ethiopia)

Men

1. Tadese Takele (Ethiopia) - 2:03:37

2. Geoffrey Toroitich (Kenya) - 2:03:37

3. Alexander Mutiso (Kenya/ND Soft) - 2:03:38

4. Daniel Mateiko (Kenya) - 2:03:44 - PB

5. Muktar Edris (Ethiopia) - 2:04:07 - PB

6. Iliass Aouani (Italy) - 2:04:26 - NR

7. Selemon Barega (Ethiopia) - 2:05:00 - PB

8. Seifu Tura (Ethiopia) - 2:05:02

9. Vincent Kipkemoi Ngetich (Kenya) - 2:05:21

10. Shifera Tamru (Ethiopia) - 2:05:56

11. Peiyou Feng (China) - 2:05:58 - NR

12. Suguru Osako (Japan) - 2:05:59

13. Kengo Suzuki (Japan) - 2:06:09

14. Cam Levins (Canada) - 2:06:49

15. Tsubasa Ichiyama (Japan/Sunbelx) - 2:06:58

16. Vincent Raimoi (Kenya/Suzuki) - 2:06:59 - PB

17. Ryota Kondo (Japan/Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:07:06

18. Suldan Hassan (Sweden) - 2:07:22

19. Abdi Waiss (Djibouti) - 2:07:24 - PB

20. Shinsaku Kudo (Japan/Waseda Univ.) - 2:07:34 - debut

21. Richard Kimunyan (Kenya/Logisteed) - 2:07:36 - debut

22. Dawit Wolde (Ethiopia) - 2:07:58

23. Barnaba Kipkoech (Kenya) - 2:08:20

24. Casey Clinger (U.S.A.) - 2:08:43 - PB

25. Abayneh Degu (Ethiopia) - 2:08:43

26. Tomohiro Fujimura (Japan/Suzuki) - 2:08:49 - PB

27. Simon Kariuki (Kenya/Togami Denki) - 2:08:58

28. Felix Mursoi Kurui (Kenya) - 2:09:13 - PB

29. Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) - 2:09:19 - PB

30. Masato Arao (Japan/ND Software) - 2:09:59

31. Aoi Ota (Japan/GMO) - 2:10:07

32. Kiseki Shiozawa (Japan/Fujitsu) - 2:10:09 - debut

33. Ryoma Takeuchi (Japan/ND Software) - 2:10:18

34. Hiromasa Kumahashi (Japan/Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 2:10:31 - PB

35. Daigo Tomimura (Japan/GK Line) - 2:10:38 - PB

36. Shintaro Miyakawa (Japan/Tokyo Police) - 2:10:45 - PB

37. Daisuke Shimojo (Japan/ND Software) - 2:10:59 - PB

38. Yousheng Guan (China) - 2:11:09 - PB

39. Ryuichi Hashimoto (Japan/Press Kogyo) - 2:11:21

40. Hiroki Harada (Japan) - 2:11:25 - PB

41. Ryota Komori (Japan/NTN) - 2:11:37

42. Derese Workneh (Ethiopa/Hiramatsu Byoin) - 2:11:37

43. Itto Otawa (Japan/Tochigi T&F Assoc.) - 2:11:56 - PB

44. Haruka Kawamura (Japan/SDF Academy) - 2:12:15

45. Shokhrukh Davlatov (Uzbekistan) - 2:12:27

46. Yudai Fukuda (Japan/Ishikawa T&F Assoc.) - 2:12:34

47. Ryu Takaku (Japan/Yakult) - 2:12:52

48. Benjamin Ngandu (Kenya/Yonezawa T&F Assoc.) - 2:13:21

49. Afewerki Zeru (U.S.A.) - 2:13:22 - PB

50. Ayumu Une (Japan/SID Group) - 2:13:33 - PB

-----

58. Sonny Montenegro Wagados (Philippines) - 2:14:37 - NR

68. Richard San Luis Salano (Philippines) - 2:15:08 (NR)

-----

DNF - Jake Barraclough (Great Britain)

DNF - Fearghal Curtin (Ireland)

DNF - Chalu Deso (Ethiopia)

DNF - Benard Kimani (Kenya/Comodi Iida)

DNF - Yakoub Labquira (Morocco)

DNF - Wenjie Wang (China)

Women's Wheelchair

1. Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland) - 1:37:15

2. Eden Rainbow-Cooper (Great Britain) - 1:41:13

3. Zhaoqian Zhou (China) - 1:41:13

4. Tatyana McFadden (U.S.A,) - 1:41:15

5. Vanessa De Souza (Brazil) - 1:41:20

6. Wakako Tsuchida (Japan) - 1:41:20

7. Tsubasa Nakamine (Japan) - 1:41:20

8. Manuel Schar (Switzerland) - 1:42:17

9. Patricia Eachus (Switzerland) - 1:47:34

10. Madison De Rozario (Australia) - 1:52:08

Men's Wheelchair

1. Marcel Hug (Switzerland) - 1:21:09

2. Xingchuan Luo (China) - 1:28:08

3. Sho Watanabe (Japan) - 1:33:10

4. Samuel Rizzo (Australia) - 1:33:12

5. Geert Schipper (Netherlands) - 1:33:12

6. Hiroki Nishida (Japan) - 1:33:19

7. Hiroki Kishizawa (Japan) - 1:36:15

8. Kota Hokinoue (Japan) - 1:36:16

9. Masayuki Higuchi (Japan) - 1:36:16

10. Ryuichi Kawamuro (Japan) - 1:37:08

Hassan Runs NR/CR for Osaka Win, Dibaba Hits Women's CR, Yoshida and Shuley Earn Legends

This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...

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