After collecting major marathon wins in Chicago (once), London (4 times), Berlin (3 times), and the Olympics (twice) over the past decade, Eliud Kipchoge lined up for his first Tokyo Marathon on Sunday morning and did what he always does: conduct an absolute masterclass in marathon running.
On a good but slightly windy day for racing, Kipchoge ran 2:02:40, the fourth-fastest marathon in history, after dropping fellow Kenyan Amos Kipruto, the 2019 World Championship bronze medalist, shortly after 36 kilometers.
Kipchoge has now won 14 marathons overall, including nine World Marathon Major events and two Olympic marathons.
With wins in Tokyo, London, Berlin, and Chicago, he joins Wilson Kipsang as the only men to have won four different WMM events since the series began in 2006.
Only Boston and New York remain for Kipchoge to complete an unprecedented sweep.
Kipruto finished second in 2:03:13 (moving into a tie for 9th on the all-time list), with Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola third in 2:04:14 and Japanese record holder Kengo Suzuki 4th in 2:05:28.
Those times would have been even faster had the lead pack not made a wrong turn shortly after the 10k mark, costing them roughly 10 seconds (a couple of the lead vehicles appeared to make a wrong turn, with the athletes following right when they should have turned left).
Suzuki was not in the lead pack at the time so his time was unaffected.
Thanks to the good conditions and a downhill first 5k, the race began quickly with five men hitting halfway in 61:03 behind a trio of pacemakers.
But as Kipchoge plowed on, his perfect form betraying no hint of fatigue, the rest of the pack began to fall off one-by-one, with a 14:25 split from 25k to 30k (which they passed in 1:26:51, or 2:02:09 pace) whittling the field to just Kipchoge and Kipruto.
The two Kenyans would run side-by-side for a few miles, Kipruto helped by the fact that their 5k split from 30k to 35k (14:39) was their slowest of the race.
But as soon as Kipchoge upped the pace a hair at 36k, Kipruto would not respond, and Kipchoge would run unchallenged over the final five kilometers, romping to yet another major marathon victory.
“I’m really happy. I’m excited again to be in Japan, especially after winning the Olympic Games last year in Sapporo,” Kipchoge said.
“I really, really, really appreciate the crowd. I think the Japanese are really helpful. That’s why I say in the press that I run strong in Japan.”
Kipchoge was making his Tokyo debut in one the six major marathons alongside New York, Berlin, Chicago, London and Boston.
In the women’s race Brigid Kosgei broke at the 35km mark to finish in 2 hours 16 minutes and 2 seconds shattering Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter’s time of 2:17:45.
Ethiopians Ashete Bekere (2:17:58) and Gotytom Gebreslase (2:18:18) finished second and third respectively, while kebta’s Angela Tanui settled for fourth position after timing in 2:18:42.
“The weather was good and I enjoyed the race. I’m happy to have clocked a course record time, but my target was to run 2:14 which I believe is still achievable and I shall be working on that in the near future. The results were good due to good preparations back at home,” said Kosgei.
Both Kipchoge and Kosgei have earned themselves 25 points in the Abbott World Marathon Majors.
