Skip to main content

Kimetto Gets Tokyo Marathon CR

by Brett Larner

video by naoki620

On a cold and moderately windy day, pre-race favorite Dennis Kipruto Kimetto (Kenya) lived up to expectations to bring the Tokyo Marathon into the World Marathon Majors with a 2:06:50 course record, holding off defending champion Michael Kipkorir Kipyego (Kenya) over the final kilometers after taking the lead at 34 km.

The group of pacers taking the lead men through 30 km were far off the target splits of 14:50-55 per 5 km, never breaking 15:00 and immediately eliminating 2:05 from possibility. At 30 km James Kwambai (Kenya) took over, initiating a surge that turned into a 5 km split of 14:20 once Kimetto went to work at 34 km.  Kipyego came close to catching up back up in the final 5 km but could not manage to close the final 3 seconds before losing ground in the final kilometer.

2009 Tokyo runner-up Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko), who ran a 2:08:38 PB in Tokyo last year, was the only Japanese man to go with Kwambai's push, moving up to 4th in the home straight as he kicked hard to try to get the sub-2:08 time requirement for guaranteed 2013 World Championships team membership.  Although he crossed the line with 2:07:58 on the clock his final time came out an agonizing 2:08:00, just short but putting him in first in team contention standings as he became the third Japanese man this month to run 2:08 for the second time in his career.

5000 m and 30 km national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) was the second Japanese man across line, like Maeda recording a second-straight PB at Tokyo with a new best of 2:09:14 for 9th and finally surpassing his identical twin brother Yuko Matsumiya (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) as a marathoner.  Along with two strong debuts, every Japanese man in the top 25 ran a PB, suggesting that whatever problems there were with the times up front being slower than expected were not due to any wind.

In the women's race former Team Daiichi Seimei runner Azusa Nojiri (Hiratsuka Lease) went out at 2:21 pace to get some screen time for her new private sponsor before fading away just past 15 km and ultimately finishing 9th in 2:31:15. Aberu Kebede (Ethiopia) and Caroline Cheptonui Kilel (Kenya) made short work of running her down, with last year's runner-up Yeshi Esayias (Ethiopia) catching up after a more conservative start.  Kilel abruptly disappeared late in the race to leave Kebede alone on track for the 2:25:28 course record and its hefty bonus.

Kebede appeared to have it down, but, celebrating in the final few hundred meters, she crossed the line just short in 2:25:34.  Esayias was 2nd again in 2:26:01, 1 second off her time last year, with veteran Irina Mikitenko (Germany) 3rd in 2:26:41.  In her final marathon before retiring 2009 World Championships marathon silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) took the top Japanese position, 5th overall in 2:28:30.

2013 Tokyo Marathon
Tokyo, 2/24/13
click here for complete results

Men
1. Dennis Kipruto Kimetto (Kenya) - 2:06:50 - CR
2. Michael Kipkorir Kipyego (Kenya) - 2:06:58 (CR)
3. Bernard Kiprop Kipyego (Kenya) - 2:07:53
4. Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko) - 2:08:00 - PB
5. James Kipsang Kwambai (Kenya) - 2:08:02
6. Gilbert Kipruto Kirwa (Kenya) - 2:08:17
7. Feyisa Bekele (Ethiopia) - 2:09:05
8. Dino Sefir (Ethiopia) - 2:09:13
9. Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:09:14 - PB
10. Jonathan Kiplimo Maiyo (Kenya) 2:10:18
11. Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 2:10:29 - PB
12. Gideon Kipkemoi Kipketer (Kenya) - 2:10:41
13. Soji Ikeda (Team Yakult) - 2:10:59 - debut
14. Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:11:01 - PB
15. Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:11:15 - PB
16. Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:11:28 - PB
17. Chiharu Takada (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:11:53 - PB
18. Ahmed Baday (Morocco) - 2:12:53
19. Hiroki Tanaka (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:13:09 - PB
20. Norihide Fujimori (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:13:11 - PB
21. Ryotaro Niita (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:14:09 - debut
22. Essa Ismael Rashed (Qatar) - 2:14:10
23. Makoto Harada (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:14:40 - PB
24. Yasuyuki Nakamura (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:14:41 - PB
25. Yuya Shiokawa (Team Subaru) - 2:14:49 - PB
-----
26. Dmitriy Safronov (Russia) - 2:15:08
31. Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:16:31 - debut
34. Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) - 2:17:24
Sho Matsumoto (Dream AC) - 2:21:40
-----
DNF - Daniel Njenga (Kenya/Team Yakult)
DNF - Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo)
DNF - Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku)

Women
1. Aberu Kebede (Ethiopia) - 2:25:34
2. Yeshi Esayias (Ethiopia) - 2:26:01
3. Irina Mikitenko (Germany) - 2:26:41
4. Albina Mayorova (Russia) - 2:26:51
5. Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 2:28:30
6. Helalia Johannes (Namibia) - 2:29:20
7. Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) - 2:30:20 - debut
8. Nastassia Staravoitava (Belarus) - 2:30:45
9. Azusa Nojiri (Hiratsuka Lease) - 2:31:15
10. Hiroko Yoshitomi (First Dream AC) - 2:31:28 - PB
11. Shoko Shimizu (Team Aichi Denki) - 2:32:43 - PB
12. Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 2:33:21 - debut
13. Bezunesh Bekele (Ethiopia) - 2:34:19
14. Saki Tabata (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:37:40 - PB
15. Noriko Hirao (First Dream AC) - 2:38:50 - PB
16. Rina Yamazaki (Team Panasonic) - 2:39:48
17. Mitsuko Hirose (Tokyo Wings AC) - 2:42:20
18. Ikue Tabata (Komono RC ) - 2:42:37 - PB
19. Amanda Rice (U.S.A.) - 2:42:44
20. Ryo Kawahara (Dream AC) - 2:44:24 - PB
21. Caroline Cheptonui Kilel (Kenya) - 2:47:08
22. Yuka Aoyama (Crest AC) - 2:47:22 - PB
23. Eri Suzuki (Noshiro Yamamoto T&F Assoc.) - 2:48:32 - PB
24. Shiho Asanuma (Kushiro Chiho T&F Assoc.) - 2:50:42 - PB
25. Toshiko Yoshikawa (NRF AC) - 2:51:00
-----
66. Yoshiko Fujinaga (Isahaya T&F Assoc.) - 3:05:58
-----
DNF - Atsede Habtamu (Ethiopia)
DNF - Noriko Matsuoka (Second Wind AC)
DNF - Olena Shurkhno (Ukraine)

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Brett Larner said…
The ARRS list of single-age records puts the 40+ WR at 2:26:51 by Priscilla Welch in London, 1987. Dr. Helmut Winter points out that Lyudmila Petrova ran 2:25:43 in NYC in 2008. For whatever reason this mark is not included on the ARRS listings. I've amended this article pending clarification on the ARRS listings: http://arrs.net/SA_Mara.htm

Most-Read This Week

Ninja Runner Yuka Ando Leads Japanese Women's Marathon Team in London: "I Want to Go For It"

Her form has been dubbed "ninja running." Both arms held straight down with almost no movement. That idiosyncratic style carried Yuka Ando , 23, to the fastest-ever marathon debut by a Japanese woman, 2:21:36, at March's Nagoya Women's Marathon to land at #4 on the all-time Japanese lists. All at once Ando found herself catapulted to the top level of women's marathoning, a candidate for Japan's next great marathoner. When she was younger Ando ran moving her arms like other runners, but she had a bad habit of moving robotically, her upper body and lower body not working in sync. The turning point came in 2014 when she joined Suzuki Hamamatsu AC . Working there with coach Masayuki Satouchi to eliminate the faults in her form, the pair arrived at the ninja running style that let her run relaxed. "Other people keep asking me, "Isn't it hard to run like that?" but for me it's comfortable," she said. The efficient form helped her mai

Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half - Weekend Overseas Results

2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men's race at the United Airlines NYC Half , taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University , Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN's development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts. Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month's National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito

Rui Aoki Wins National University Men's Half Marathon - Weekend Results

Yuka Ando 's win at the Nagoya Women's Marathon was the big news of the weekend, but there were other high-level races happening, even in Nagoya. Held in parallel with the marathon, the Nagoya City Half Marathon saw Australians Natalie Rule and Ed Goddard take easy wins by about 2.5 minutes each, Rule in 1:13:57 and Goddard in 1:04:01. The new Biwako Marathon also had a non-Japanese winner, China's Yousheng Guan scoring 1st in 2:14:58 with Japan's Hirohito Sugai next in 2:16:40. Mikiko Ota won the women's race in 2:50:44. The Shizuoka Marathon returned for its first running in five years, with club runner Shumpei Oda leading the top 7 men under 2:20 in 2:15:36. Women's winner Remi Tanaka ran 2:41:23, beating runner-up Ayumi Sano by exactly 7 minutes. And in Tokyo, Rui Aoki continued what has been a great season so far for Koku Gakuin University with a win at the National University Men's Half Marathon . Aoki and Hiro Konda of Chuo Gakuin Unive