japan running news

The Tokyo Marathon returned to the streets of the nation's capital Sunday with both a mass participation field of 20,000 and a world-class elite race for the first time in three years. Three of the four divisions in the race had the world record holder in their respective category, and all three put in dominant performances to take the win.  Men's wheelchair marathon world record holder and double Paralympic gold medalist Marcel Hug  of Switzerland soloed a 1:22:16 to beat Japanese national record holder Tomoki Suzuki  by almost 7 minutes. Men's marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge  delivered one of the best performances of his career, taking command before all the pacers had dropped and pushing through headwinds over the final kilometers to win in 2:02:40, the 3rd-fastest record-legal time ever, fastest on Japanese soil, and fastest so far this year. And that despite a wrong turn when the police guide escort went the wrong way on a new section of course near...

Bigger things are happening in the world right now, but this Sunday the  Tokyo Marathon  returns to the streets with a full-sized elite and mass participation field for the first time since 2019. World record holders Brigid Kosgei  and Eliud Kipchoge  are there to lead it, broadcast live in 160 countries worldwide starting at 9:00 a.m. local Japan time with JRN's Brett Larner  on the commentary once again. Follow the leaderboard here , with athlete tracking here . For the second time in its history Tokyo has a significant course change this year, the addition of a new out-and-back toward Ueno just before 10 km and an equivalent cut from the final out-and-back toward Shinagawa. Not counting the triangular turnaround at Asakusa, that means Tokyo has gone from one 180˚ turn on the original course to two on the interim course to three on this course, something that will impact its overall quality and especially so for the wheelchair marathoners. The women's wheelch...

With prime minister Fumio Kishida  having publicly confirmed yesterday that Japan will begin relaxing its rigid border restrictions as of Mar. 1, the Mar. 6  Tokyo Marathon  followed up its earlier announcement of the domestic elite field for this year's twice-rescheduled race with the full list of international athletes scheduled to compete. Women's and men's world record holders Brigid Kosgei and Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya are set to return to Japan after winning the Olympic marathon silver and gold medals in Sapporo last summer, with backing from small but high-quality international fields, the Japanese women-only and men's marathon NR holders and half marathon NR holders, and more. Kosgei will face a solid list of proven winners, including last year's Amsterdam winner Angela Tanui (Kenya), 2019 Berlin winner Ashete Bekere (Ethiopia), 2021 Milan winner Hiwot Gebrekidan (Ethiopia), 2021 Berlin winner Gotytom Gebreslase (Ethiopia), 2020 Marathon Project winner S...

This isn't going to be a race recap. Past Tokyo Marathon champs Dickson Chumba of Kenya and Birhane Dibaba of Ethiopia running smart races, working hard after 30 km to each score a second Tokyo title, Dibaba negative splitting her way to a 2:19:51 PB just 4 seconds off the course record and Chumba running away to win in 2:05:30. London World Championships bronze medalist Amy Cragg living up to her pre-race vow to make the top three in PB time, taking 3rd in 2:21:42. Cancer survivor Satoru Kasuya delivering his best performance since almost dying five years ago, an emotional 2:14:37 for 30th. What this is about is today, the day, the one that's been coming. Yuta Shitara getting it right, strong, unafraid, in control when he needed to be, finding what he needed when it counted, breaking the 16-year-old Japanese national record in 2:06:11 and winning a million dollar bonus for it. But not just him. Hiroto Inoue , just as strong, just as in control, never giving up e...

After stepping up to the big leagues last year with course records in the 2:03 and 2:19 range, the Tokyo Marathon hopes to go one better this year. Men's course record setter Wilson Kipsang (Kenya) is back, stepping up from a 2:03:50 prediction for Tokyo in January to a 2:02:50 world record prediction at Friday's pre-race press conference. In the unmentioned absence of women's course record breaker Sarah Chepchirchir the top-ranked woman is Ruti Aga (Ethiopia), coming in hot off a 1:06:39 win last month in Houston and turning heads at the press conference with a boldly mumbled 2:18:00 prediction. Management for both Kipsang and Aga were skeptical to JRN of their athletes' predictions, people from each camp saying times two minutes slower would be more likely, one minute slower in a best-case scenario. But whatever the prediction, Kipsang was clear to fellow past champs Feyisa Lilesa (Ethiopia) and Dickson Chumba (Kenya) about one thing: he wants a more conser...