Ethiopian runners dominated the streets of Tokyo on Sunday as Tadese Takele clinched his first major marathon win, while Sutume Kebede defended her title in a new record timing at the Tokyo Marathon. Takele, third in Berlin last year, clocked a world-leading 2:03:23\u2014one second faster than his previous best\u2014to win by 28 seconds over fellow Ethiopian Deresa Geleta. Vincent Kipkemoi of Kenya took third in 2:04:00.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kebede, last year\u2019s champion, ran 2:16:31 to become the first woman to win the race twice. She finished ahead of Kenya\u2019s Winfridah Moraa Moseti (2:16:56) and compatriot Hawi Feysa (2:17:00), marking an incredibly competitive women\u2019s podium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ideal race conditions at the start turned warmer as the event progressed. Both elite fields set a fast early pace\u2014men hitting 5km in 14:23, women in 15:33.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benson Kipruto led the men\u2019s pack early on, while Joshua Cheptegei, a 5000m and 10,000m world record-holder, sat in the second group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe weather wasn\u2019t a problem, it wasn\u2019t too hot and for me it was comfortable,\u201d Takele said on the sunny conditions, talking to reporters after the race. \u201cThe course was good and this was a great day for me. In the future, I hope to run even better than I did today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By 30km, Takele, Geleta, and Kipkemoi had pulled ahead. At 38km, Takele surged, dropping his rivals and sealing victory unchallenged. Kipruto finished seventh in 2:05:46 while Cheptegei was ninth in 2:05:59, a three-minute improvement on his time from Valencia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the women\u2019s race, Kebede set out at an ambitious 2:12 marathon pace but slowed after halfway (1:06:20). Despite this, she remained unchallenged after 30km, finishing comfortably in 2:16:31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Behind her, Moseti was running a much more evenly paced race and she closed on Kebede to finish 25 seconds behind the winner. The Bangsaen21 Half Marathon winner passed 10km in 32:24 and halfway in 1:08:23 \u2013 two minutes behind leader Kebede.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moseti and Feysa ran together during the second half of the race and reached 40km in 2:09:57 before Moseti had the stronger finish to clinch the runner-up spot, four seconds ahead of Feysa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Paula Radcliffe, 51, completed her first competitive race in a decade, finishing in 2:57:26. The former world record-holder ran 2:15:25 at her peak in 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With inputs from the worldathletics.org<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n