Latest race results

With all 15,000 entries sold out in January, the Copenhagen Marathon already set a historic record since the race was born in 1980. But the elite runners were aiming for more records Sunday May 5th as they took on the newly designed, fast and flat course in near perfect marathon weather. The early favorites were felled by strong challengers as Abdi Gelelchu was the fastest man at the biggest Copenhagen Marathon ever. Kenyan Margaret Agai took the honours for the women.

At the start of the race, it was sunny with temperatures at 9.6ºC and 22% humidity. Temperatures remained stable and the weather conditions were quite favourable.

In the men’s field, Benson Kipruto (Kenya) won his first Tokyo Marathon with a time of 2:02:16, setting a course record, fastest finish time in Japan, and the fifth fastest time in the world. This is his third win in an Abbott World Marathon Majors event, following the Boston Marathon 2021 and Chicago Marathon 2022. He shared his joy commenting, “I am happy to have set a new event record. I am happy. It was an enjoyable run.“

It was a fast paced race from the start, marking 14:16 at 5km, 28:30 at 10km, and 42:52 at 15km. The leading pack was made up of 4 runners from Kenya – Kipruto, Timothy Kiplagat, Vincent Kipkemoi Ngetich and the former world record holder Eliud Kipchoge.

Kipchoge began to fall behind from the leaders before the 20km mark, and three runners remained in competition for the win. At the 27km mark, Kiplagat took the lead at a potential new world record pace. Kipruto caught up to Kiplagat at the 32km mark, and the pace slowed down as they kept an eye on each other. From 35km, it became a one on one duel between Kipruto and Kiplagat, with Kipruto picking up the pace at 38km. He maintained his lead and beat the course record of 2:02:40 set by Kipchoge in the Tokyo Marathon　2021 (held in 2022).

When asked about the fast pace up to 30km which had the potential to exceed the world record, he stressed that it was a result of extensive practice. “I didn’t realize this was the case. It would not surprise me if I had broken the world record. I had been preparing for that.“ Kiplagat placed second with 2:02:55, and Ngetich placed third at 2:04:18. While he slowed down to a pace of 15:30 to 15:40 per 5km after the 20km mark, Kipchoge finished the race in 10th place with a time of 2:06:50.

For the Japanese men, the Tokyo Marathon is the only remaining “final challenge” race of the Marathon Grand Championship for the last spot on the Japanese men’s marathon representative for Paris 2024, and they were aiming for a time under the designated 2:05:50.

Around the 33km mark, Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota Motors) took over from Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) who had been leading the Japanese men, hoping to meet the designated time. However, he was unable to pick up the pace and finished 9th with a time of 2:06:31, missing out on the ticket to Paris. While he improved his personal best by 1:16, he showed tears after the race. “I wanted to go to the Olympics. I’m frustrated because it was meaningless unless I ran under 2:05:50.“

Kenya Sonota (East Japan Railway Company) placed 11th with a time of 2:06:54 placing second among the Japanese men. Japanese record holder Kengo Suzuki (Fujitsu) placed 28th with a time of 2:11:19 after slowing down considerably after the 30km mark. Suzuki recapped the race “I was challenging myself for Paris, but it didn’t happen. I am very grateful for all the support.”

Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.) who led the Japanese men’s field last year, fell behind the pack at 8km and placed 46th with a time of 2:17:26.

In the women’s field, Sutume Asefa Kebede (Ethiopia) won her first Tokyo Marathon at 2:15:55, breaking the record of the fastest finish time in Japan and course record. She smiled at the unexpected result. “I am very happy. I hadn’t thought about breaking the course record until the halfway point.”

From the 25km mark, it was a three-way competition between Kebede, Rosemary Wanjiru (Kenya) who won last year and Amane Beriso Shankule (Ethiopia). Shankule fell behind, and Kebede picked up the pace beyond 40km, leaving Wanjiru behind and maintaining the lead to the finish. She beat the course record of 2:16:02 set by Brigid Kosgei in 2021 Tokyo Marathon (held in 2022), Kebede shared that she put in all of her power at the end commenting, “There was a lot of strategizing. I tried my best for a last spurt of speed.”

Wanjiru placed second with a time of 2:16:14 and broke her personal record of 2:16:28 which allowed her to win last year. Shankule placed third with a time of 2:16:58.

Sifan Hassan (Netherlands), who has the second fastest world record, placed fourth at 2:18:05. She fell behind the leaders around 20km and slowed down after the 25km mark.

Although she led the Japanese women, Hitomi Niiya, who was hoping to set a new Japan record, slowed after the 30km mark and placed sixth with a time of 2:21:50. “I didn’t get the results. Nothing more and nothing less”, she commented.

There were breakout victories for hitherto little known Daniel Mateiko of Kenya and Tsigie Gebreselama of Ethiopia in the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates early Saturday morning. And the imperious manner of their wins on a breezy, humid morning with a sea mist invading the latter stages suggests they both have a very bright future. Yet the contrast in their race-winning tactics could hardly have been greater. Mateiko led from the gun, and only conceded the lead for brief periods, before outgunning his colleagues John Korir and Isaia Lasoi in the final kilometre, to win in a world leading 58min 45sec. Korir and Lasoi finished five and ten seconds behind respectively.

In contrast, Gebreselama contented herself to stay in the pack until she was ready to strike for home in the last five kilometres. Only former world record holder (64.31) and 2020 winner, colleague Ababel Yeshaneh could go with her, but that challenge didn’t last long. And such was Gebreselama’s attritional pace that by the time she crossed the line in 65.14, Yeshaneh was exactly half a minute in arrears. Jackline Sakilu of Tanzania was the surprise of the day, setting a national record of 66.05 in third place. What was no surprise was that the podium places were taken by athletes from three East African countries who share the same topography, the high altitude plateau of the Great Rift Valley.

Konstanze Klosterhalfen of Germany threatened to gatecrash that exclusive club up to the hallway point in a race, having come directly from her own training camp in Ethiopia. But, having headed the field up to 10k, which she passed in 31.09, which would have been a PB had she finished the race, she tailed off drastically and dropped out shortly afterwards, saying she did not feel well.

Olympic marathon champion, Peres Jepchirchir had been one of the favourites to win, but in the bustle of the start, someone trod on her heel and she lost around 20sec putting her shoe back on. Surprisingly for someone with her long experience, instead of working her way gradually back to the group, she shot off and rejoined them before they had completed the first kilometre. She paid for that unnecessary effort in the closing stages, and could only finish seventh in 67.19.

Gebreselama was not entirely unknown prior to today; she finished second in the world cross country championships in Australia last year. ‘That was my best performance, but today is better than that, because I won,’ she said after the race. ‘I knew I was in good shape. I think I like cross country and road running equally, but now I must prepare for the track’. In a reversal of tradition, she is leaving here for a four-month stint in an altitude training camp in the USA, before she runs the Ethiopian trials with the intent on making the Olympic team at 10,000 metres.

Having been told that there was no pacemaker in the men’s race, we wondered why Mateiko, who led from the gun kept consulting his watch and checking over his shoulder at his pursuers. Maybe he was surprised they were still there for so long, right up to the final kilometre. But having done all work, he was rewarded with a more than worthy victory, then engagingly stated that that was his intent throughout the race. ‘After finishing second last year, I promised myself to win. But the conditions were difficult; it was windy and very humid.’

Mateiko hails from Mount Elgon on the Kenya-Uganda border, but now trains in Eldoret with twice Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge under the tutelage of former steeplechaser Patrick Sang. ‘Patrick told me I was in good shape, but to be strong-minded. And Eliud is giving me advice too. I would like to have his consistency. Now my dream is to run well in the London Marathon’. If his marathon debut is as impressive as his win here today, the London crowds in April will be in for a treat.

In the men’s race, Richard Etir (Tokyo International University) pulled the race forward in the leading group from the very start, breaking the Japanese student record and winning for the first time with a time of 59:32. Among Japanese athletes, first stage prize winner of the Hakone Ekiden, Kotaro Shinohara (Komazawa University) was the top athlete, placing eighth overall with a time of 1:01:04.

On the women’s side of the race, Dolphine Nyaboke Omare (U.S.E.) ran alone from the start and broke the race record by 1 minute and 15 seconds, winning with a new record of 1:06:07. Sheila Chepkirui (Kenya) also broke the race record and achieved second place with a time of 1:06:47.

The fastest Japanese athlete, Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post Holdings), who is aiming to represent Japan in the Paris Olympics, came in fifth with a time of 1:08:51.

About 7700 runners from the general public participated, and about 85000 people were in the streets, cheering and applauding for the runners aiming to complete the race or achieve a personal best. This marathon is observed as an event representative of Japan and it is becoming more popular with every year.