An Ethiopian sweep in Tokyo
Takele, Kebede win men's and women's titles in year's first World Marathon Majors event
The third time proved to be the charm for Tadese Takele in the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday.
Running in the third marathon of his career, the 22-year-old Ethiopian posted his first victory in the 42.195-kilometer/26-mile 385-yard event when his time of 2 hours 3 minutes 23 seconds left him comfortably ahead of compatriot Deresa Geleta, who finished second in 2:03:51.
Kenyan Vincent Ngetich placed third in 2:04:00 in a race that was the first of seven World Marathon Majors to be held this year.
“I feel great about this win,” Takele said through an interpreter in an interview that was streamed on FloTrack. “I came here really well prepared and I performed better than expected. I really thank God for his support.”
Takele crossed the finish line a little more than 13 minutes ahead of compatriot Sutume Kebede, who won her second consecutive women’s title with a 2:16:31 clocking after she had been on pace to run under 2:13:00 at the 25-kilometer mark.
Winfridah Moseti of Kenya and Hawi Feysa of Ethiopia, two runners who trailed Kebede by nearly two and half minutes after 35 kilometers, finished second and third, respectively, with personal bests of 2:16:56 and 2:17:00.
While the 30-year-old Kebede blasted out to an early lead in the women’s race before hanging on for the victory, Takele sped away from Geleta and Ngetich during the last three-plus kilometers of the men’s contest.
Takele, who ran 8:09.37 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 2021 and represented Ethiopia in the Olympic Games in Tokyo that year, was part of a large lead pack on Sunday when he went through five kilometers in 14:25 and 10 kilometers in 28:56.
He was amongst a 12-runner group when he passed 15 kilometers in 43:30 and he was one of 11 men — counting two pacesetters — at the front of the field when he clocked 58:07 at 20 kilometers.
The lead group was down to seven competitors and one pacesetter when Takele came through 25 kilometers in 1:12:44 and it had dwindled to four when pacesetter Shadrack Kimining of Kenya clocked 1:27:21 at 30 kilometers while running just ahead of Ngetich, Takele, and Geleta.
Defending champion Benson Kipruto of Kenya, who had set a course record and personal best of 2:02:16 in last year’s race, was 11 seconds out of the lead at that point and he would finish in sixth place.
In addition, Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, the Olympic champion in the 10,000 meters and a three-time world champion in that event, was part of a chase group that was 75 seconds behind the leaders at that juncture.
After Kimining dropped out just after 30 kilometers, Ngetich, Takele, and Geleta went through 35 kilometes in 1:42:13 and they were still together about three and a half kilometers later when Takele began to pick up the pace.
Ngetich fell back fairly quickly after that and a gap began to open between Takele and Olympic fifth-place finisher Geleta about a minute and a half later.
Takele had a three-second lead over Geleta when he came through 39 kilometers and his advantage had grown to 11 seconds when he passed the 40-kilometer mark in 1:56.59.
Takele had run both the 39th and 40th kilometers of the race in 2:51 after clocking 3:03 and 3:00, respectively, during the 37th and 38th kilometers.
He then ran 2:53 for the 41st kilometer to further pad his lead before trimming a second off his personal best of 2:03:24 that he had run while finishing third in his marathon debut in Berlin in 2023.
He had followed that effort with a seventh-place time of 2:05:13 in the same race last September.
After Geleta (2:03:51) and Ngetich (2:04:00) finished second and third on Sunday, Titus Kipruto of Kenya — no relation to Benson — placed fourth in 2:05:34. He was followed by the tightly-bunched trio of Ethiopian Asefa Uma, Benson Kipruto, and Kenyan Geoffrey Toroitich, who were each credited with times of 2:05:46.
Suldan Hassan of Sweden finished eighth in a national record of 2:05:57, with Cheptegei and Japan’s Ichiyama Tsubasa recording personal bests of 2:05:59 and 2:06:00, respectively, while placing ninth and 10th.
While Cheptegei’s time was slower than the sub 2:05:00 clocking he had hoped for, it was a big improvement over his debut marathon in Valencia, Spain, in 2023 when he had staggered across the finish line while placing 37th in 2:08:59.
“My finish was great,” Takele said, “and I got to a certain point in the race and I said, ‘I have to win this.’ And I just want to win.”
While Takele had entered Sunday’s race looking for his first marathon victory, Kebede was intent on defending her title from last year, as well as crushing her course-record time of 2:15:55.
That effort had moved her to eighth on the all-time performer list, but she zipped through the first five kilometers in 15:35 on Sunday before passing 10 kilometers in 31:22.
She had a 42-second lead over second-place compatriot Tigist Ketema at that point in the race and her advantage was 61 seconds when she came through 15 kilometers in 47:06 and it had increased to a minute and 25 seconds when she passed 20 kilometers in 1:02:53.
Her final time was projected to be 2:12:40 at that point in the race, which would have been the third-fastest performance ever. But her pace had slowed ever so slightly when she came through 25 kilometers in 1:18:43 and the drop-off was more significant during the next 5,000 meters as she passed 30 kilometers in 1:34:44.
Her projected finishing time was still an extremely quick 2:13:15 at that juncture, but the previous hot tempo, as well as warming temperatures, were taking a toll on her as she ran the next two five-kilometer segments of the race in 16:31 and 17:20 after posting splits of 15:50 and 16:01 from 20 to 30 kilometers.
Although her lead of more than two and a half minutes over Moseti and Feysa had shrunk to a minute and 22 seconds when she came through 40 kilometers in 2:08:35, it was large enough to keep her well in front of that pair during the last two-plus kilometers of the race.
After those first three finishers, Kenyans Madalyne Masai and Rosemary Wanjiru finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in times of 2:19:28 and 2:19:57.
Desi Mokonin of Bahrain finished sixth in a personal best of 2:20:07 to move to second on that country’s all-time performer list and she was followed by 2022 world champion Gotytom Gebreslase of Ethiopia, who ran 2:20:25 while finishing a second in front of compatriot Degitu Azimeraw.
Deshun Zhang of China and Jessica Stenson of Australia rounded out the top 10 women’s finishers with times of 2:20:53 and 2:22:56 while moving to third on their country’s all-time performer lists.
“I’m really happy,” Kebede said through an interpreter. “It felt great to win Tokyo for a second year. I couldn’t improve my time, but I’m still pretty happy.”
She then added that she hoped to be selected to the Ethiopian team that will compete in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from Sept. 13-21.
“I know the World Championships are here this year, and if God’s willing, I’ll be back to run again this fall.”
The next World Marathon Majors race will be the Boston Marathon on April 21.