The Tokyo Marathon brings back the focus of the athletics world on the roads. The Marathon to be run on March 1 (Sunday) will kickstart the World Marathon Majors series for 2026. And it’s going to be a blast, with both the men’s and women’s defending champions leading the elite entry lists.
38,500 participants are expected to line up for the start of the full 42.195km marathon race. 500 runners will compete in the 10.7km run.
Can Ethiopian Sutume Asefa Kebede become the first marathoner to win in Tokyo for a third time in a row, thereby making history? In addition, compatriot Tadese Takele will try to follow in Birhanu Legese’s footsteps by winning the men’s race back-to-back.
There is also a flurry of Olympic stars in the line-up, led by another Ethiopian distance runner Selemon Barega, the 10,000m gold medallist from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021, and Brigid Kosgei, the silver medallist from the same Games, in the marathon.
Tokyo 2020 Olympian American Sara Hall will also be on the starting line of the 20th edition of the Tokyo Marathon, just about six weeks after her second place at the Houston Marathon.
Tadese Takele and Alex Mutiso start as men’s favourites
Ethiopia and Kenya lead the depth of field in both the men’s and women’s entries, with Takele’s hope for men’s double, as Legese did in 2019 and 2020, set to be tested by the likes of Alexander Mutiso Munyao, the 2024 London Marathon winner.
Alongside Mutiso (2:03:11), Timothy Kiplagat (2:02:55) and Vingent Ngetich (2:03:13), both also from Kenya, have the fastest personal bests ahead of the race. They both have their eyes on lowering the course record of 2:02.16, set by another Kenyan, Benson Kipruto.
Barega, on the other hand, who won the Seville Marathon last year, will be running just his second marathon.
Italian athlete Iliass Aouani, the bronze medallist at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, is another man to watch, as is Milkesa Mengesha of Ethiopia, who won the 2024 Berlin Marathon.
Japanese record holder Suguru Osako, who set a new PB of 2:04:55 at the Valencia Marathon in December, is in first place among the local runners.
Kebede and Kosgei are at the forefront
A bunch of the elites in the women’s starting list are familiar with the Tokyo Marathon course.
Kebede, the reigning champion, is joined by Kosgei, the 2022 winner. The former Kenyan world marathon record holder, who is also the Olympic silver medallist from Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Kosgei is now representing Turkiye.
There is also Rosemary Wanjiru, the 2023 winner and last year’s Berlin Marathon champion, and American Hall, who finished eighth in this race four years ago.
The reigning Chicago Marathon winner, Feysa Hawi, whose winning time of 2:14:57 was the fifth fastest time in the world then, will also make a start at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building.
Paralympic champions Marcel Hug in the men’s, and Susannah Scaroni, Catherine Debrunner, Manuela Schär and Madison de Rozario, in the women’s, will all make a return to Tokyo in what should be tight races in the wheelchair fields.
