Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei turned back the clock with a course-record display to win the women’s race in Tokyo while Ethiopia’s Tadese Takele (ETH) won a three-way thriller in the Tokyo Marathon 2026.
Here’s how the opening 2026 Abbott World Marathon Major played out as more than 38,000 athletes took to the streets of the Japanese capital.
Kosgei won in Tokyo in 2022 (in what was the delayed 2021 race) and showed she was in good form with a victory in the Shanghai Marathon in November but clear favourite beforehand was Sutume Kebede (ETH), who was bidding for a third successive win, something no one else has achieved.
And the pair were part of a select six-woman group as they reached the halfway point in 1:07:37, under the course record pace of Kebede’s 2:15:55 which she set in 2024.
Kosgei and Kebede kept the pressure on and broke clear of the rest by the 30km mark and it was soon after that when Kosgei made what proved to be the race-winning move.
She was on her own from that point onwards and crossed the line in 2:14:29, an astonishing 86 seconds quicker than that previous course best, and the seventh-fastest in history.
Kebede was overtaken in the closing stages by first her fellow Ethiopian Bertukan Welde, who clocked big PB of 2:16:36 for second place.
And then she was pipped on the line for third by compatriot Hawi Feysa as they were both credited with times of 2:17:39.
Tokyo Marathon 2026 men’s elite race
Japan’s Ryuichi Hashimoto gave the home fans plenty of cheer as he led the way in the first half of the men’s race. But he was swallowed up not long after as nine runners settled down to battle it out.
They were still together at 35km but it began to get whittled down after that and we were down to four at 40km – Takele and three Kenyans – Geoffrey Toroitich, Alex Mutiso and Daniel Mateiko.
Mateiko was first to be dropped and then Takele kicked and just had enough to hold off Toroitich, winner of the Amsterdam Marathon last year in only his second race at the distance, in a thrilling finish as both were given the same time of 2:03:37.
And Mutiso, so narrowly denied victory in the New York Marathon in November, was just a second back in third.
