Ranked #1 thanks to his 2:06:54 breakthrough at February's Tokyo Marathon, Hiroto Inoue became the first Japanese man to win an Asian Games marathon since 1986 as he took the first gold medal in athletics at the Jakarta Asian Games in a sprint finish in 2:18:22. Despite the hot and humid conditions, 26˚C and 79% humidity at the start and climbing from there, it was a pretty frustrating race to watch, to be honest, with a 4:00 first km and a low-2:20s projected finishing time until well into the second half. On paper the only real competition for Inoue and teammate Hayato Sonoda were the African-born Bahraini pair Abdi Abdo and El Hassan El Abbassi , but despite that the two Japanese runners stayed tucked into the pack as Japan-based Mongolian national record holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir made a few attempts to get it in gear. Bat-Ochir did succeed in shaking it down to a pack of 8, but it took a surprise visit from Thailand's Tony Payne , who surged up from far back to over...
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