The 2018 Tokyo Marathon () was the twelfth edition of the annual marathon race in Tokyo and was held on Sunday, 25 February. An IAAF Gold Label Road Race, it was the first World Marathon Majors event to be held that year. The men's race was won by Dickson Chumba in 2:05:30 hours while the women's race was won by Birhane Dibaba in 2:19:51. The men's runner-up Yuta Shitara set a Japanese national record time of 2:06:11 hours. This was also an Asian record. The host nation featured prominently in the men's race, with two runners in the top five and six of the top ten being Japanese. The Japanese women fared less well, with sixth-place Hiroko Yoshitomi being the best national performer (over ten minutes behind the winner).Results: Tokyo Marathon 2018. WatchAthletics. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

Around 35,500 runners took part in the marathon races, with a further 500 taking part in a 10K run linked to the event. The public section of the race was oversubscribed 9 times over, with nearly 320,000 applications received.東京マラソン2018一般エントリー/申込者数についてのお知らせ. Tokyo Marathon (2017-09-01). Retrieved 2018-03-26. From an initial 35,911 starters, a total of 34,542 people finished the marathon distance, 7905 (23%) of which were women and 32 wheelchair racers.Marathon Finisher Tokyo Marathon 2018. Tokyo Marathon. Retrieved 2018-03-26.Starters Finisher Finisher Rate. Tokyo Marathon 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-24. The event was broadcast live on television by Fuji TV and live radio commentary was provided by Nippon Broadcasting System. Tokyo Marathon 2018. Fuji TV. Retrieved 2018-03-26. An exhibition about the race was held at Tokyo Big Sight in the three days proceeding the race.

Race summary Though the men's race was not as fast as the previous year, Chumba won the race in the second fastest time ever recorded at the event. Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich returned to attempt a title defence, and also a world record, but this proved too much for the athlete, who dropped out shortly after the 15 km mark. The leading men's group were paced through to the halfway point in 1:02:44. After the pacemakers dropped out, Chumba forged ahead with fellow Kenyans Amos Kipruto and Gideon Kipketer, though the latter two soon fell behind and Yuta Shitara had a late surge to overhaul them. After those four, Hiroto Inoue was the only other man to finish under two hours and seven minutes in fifth place – this was a new record in depth of performances at the race.Nakamura, Ken (2018-02-25). Chumba and Dibaba cruise to second Tokyo Marathon titles. IAAF. Retrieved 2018-03-26. Shitara's national record brought him a 100 million yen bonus (US$950,000) from the Japan Corporate Track and Field Federation as part of their "Project Exceed" initiative to improve performances in the build-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Inoue's sub-2:07 run was also worth a 10 million yen bonus.Tokyo Marathon Foundation Announces the Tokyo Marathon 2018 Elite Field.. Tokyo Marathon (2018-02-22). Retrieved 2018-03-26.Gault, Jonathan (2018-02-25). 2018 Tokyo Marathon: Dickson Chumba & Birhane Dibaba Win, Amy Cragg Runs US #5 A-T 2:21:42, & Yuta Shitara Runs 2:06:11 to Set Japanese Record and Win $936,000. Lets Run. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

The standard of the women's race was diminished by the absence of two major runners due to injury, Purity Cherotich Rionoripo and Meseret Defar.Kenya's Rionoripo eyes win at Tokyo marathon, injured Defar to miss out. Xinhua (2018-02-23). Retrieved 2018-03-26.Defending champion Kipsang and marathon debutante Defar among Tokyo Marathon entries . IAAF (2018-01-22). Retrieved 2018-03-26. The gap in quality showed as five runners had built up a half minute lead by the first 5 km point – Ethiopians Birhane Dibaba, Ruti Aga and Shure Demise, plus American Amy Cragg and Kenya's Helah Kiprop. Kiprop drifted off the pack after 15 km, being 14 seconds in arrears when the other four women passed the halfway point in 1:10:19. Shure Demise was the next to go, falling behind by six seconds in the 25–30 km period of the race. The 30–35 km segment saw Cragg drop eight seconds back and Birhane Dibaba put clear distance between herself and runner-up Ruti Aga, eventually winning with nearly a minute and a half to spare.2018 Women's Marathon. Tokyo Marathon. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

In the wheelchair races, Hiroyuki Yamamoto and Tomoki Suzuki were dominant in the absence of Marcel Hug (flight cancellation) and it was Yamamoto who pipped his opponent to take the victory by a margin of one second in 1:26:23. A group of six racers remained in a pack further back, racing tactically some five minutes in arrears to the leaders. A sprint finish between them saw South Africa's Ernst van Dyk edge out Australian Kurt Fearnley by a fraction of a second to take third place. Six was the total number of entrants in the women's wheelchair race: Swiss Manuela Schär led the pace and pulled away from Tatyana McFadden and Amanda McGrory to win in 1:43:25 – over a minute and a half clear. McFadden took the runner-up spot and home athlete Tsubasa Kina pulled ahead of a fading McGrory to claim third.Fantastic five for Manuela Schaer in Tokyo. Paralympic (2018-02-25). Retrieved 2018-03-26.

Results Men

Position Athlete Nationality Time Dickson Chumba 2:05:30 Yuta Shitara 2:06:11 Amos Kipruto 2:06:334 Gideon Kipketer 2:06:475 Hiroto Inoue 2:06:546 Feyisa Lilesa 2:07:307 Ryo Kiname 2:08:088 Chihiro Miyawaki 2:08:459 Kenji Yamamoto 2:08:4810 Yuki Sato 2:08:5811 Mohamed Reda El Aaraby 2:09:1812 Kohei Ogino 2:09:3613 Tadashi Isshiki 2:09:4314 Akinobu Murasawa 2:09:4715 Simon Kariuki 2:10:0016 Asuka Tanaka 2:10:1317 Hiroki Yamagishi 2:10:1418 Daichi Kamino 2:10:1819 Kengo Suzuki 2:10:2120 Tsegaye Mekonnen 2:10:26

Women

Position Athlete Nationality Time Birhane Dibaba 2:19:51 Ruti Aga 2:21:19 Amy Cragg 2:21:424 Shure Demise 2:22:075 Helah Kiprop 2:28:586 Hiroko Yoshitomi 2:30:167 Madoka Nakano 2:31:418 Mao Uesugi 2:31:499 Marie Imada 2:32:0010 Zhang Meixia 2:33:0211 Asuka Yamamoto 2:34:2612 Yoshiko Sakamoto 2:35:4013 Nana Sato 2:37:3414 Yumiko Kinoshita 2:38:5115 Haruka Yamaguchi 2:39:4216 Kasumi Takahama 2:39:4917 Momoko Tanaka 2:42:0918 Shinobu Ayabe 2:42:3119 Minami Nakashima 2:43:1620 Shiori Shimomura 2:43:27

Men wheelchair

Position Athlete Nationality Time Hiroyuki Yamamoto 1:26:23 Tomoki Suzuki 1:26:24 Ernst van Dyk 1:31:304 Kurt Fearnley 1:31:305 Sho Watanabe 1:31:316 Hiroki Nishida 1:31:317 Kozo Kubo 1:31:328 Ryota Yoshida 1:31:339 Masayuki Higuchi 1:31:3610 Kota Hokinoue 1:31:40

Women wheelchair

Position Athlete Nationality Time Manuela Schär 1:43:25 Tatyana McFadden 1:44:51 Tsubasa Kina 1:46:174 Amanda McGrory 1:48:015 Susannah Scaroni 1:54:026 Kazumi Nakayama 2:01:41

References

Results 2018 Men's Marathon. Tokyo Marathon. Retrieved 2018-03-26. 2018 Women's Marathon. Tokyo Marathon. Retrieved 2018-03-26. 2018 Men's Wheelchair Marathon. Tokyo Marathon. Retrieved 2018-03-26. 2018 Women's Wheelchair Marathon. Tokyo Marathon. Retrieved 2018-03-26.

External links

Official website