In what was his second win in the Tokyo Marathon, Kenya’s Dickson Chumba cruised to victory in the 2018 edition clocking a time of 2:05.30 to win the men’s race in the Japanese capital.
Chumba won his first Tokyo Marathon in 2014 and finished third in the last three editions.
Japan’s Yuta Shitara was 41 seconds adrift preventing a Kenyan sweep as he came in second ahead of Amos Kipruto and Gideon Kipketer who timed 2:06:33 and 2:06:47 respectively.
Chumba started to pull away after 37 kilometres and nobody was going to close the gap down to the Kenyan.
“I’m so happy I was able to retain the title held by a Kenyan (Wilson Kipsang). I went to the race with one thing in mind, winning,” said Chumba.
According to Chumba, the disappointment of finishing third in the last three editions motivated him further to go for the win this year.
“For the last three years I have been taking the third position in this race, but this year I wanted to get out of that bracket and even win the race. It has happened and I’m very happy,” he added.
One of the favourites to win the men’s event, Kenya’s Wilson Kipsang, pulled out of the race and went to Twitter to explain why:
I really wanted to go fast, but after suffering from stomach problems the last 2 days before the race, I didn’t have the power to run a decent race today. I’m disappointed, I was really ready for it. #speechless #thanksfans #willbeback
— Wilson Kipsang (@Kipsang_2_03_23) February 25, 2018
Ethiopia’s Birhane Dibaba won the women’s race clocking 2:19:51 well clear of compatriot Ruti Aga and third place United States’ Amy Cragg. Kenya’s Helah Kiprop was in fifth position after clocking 2:28:58.
Dibaba hit the throttle hard after 37 kilometres to leave plenty of athletes trailing and only Aga and Cragg were able to live with the injection of speed.
What an incredible moment for Birhane Dibaba 😍 #AbbottWMM pic.twitter.com/rQHvopKtXY
— Abbott WMMajors (@WMMajors) February 25, 2018
The Tokyo Marathon which was held on Sunday saw a total number of 35,500 participants allowed for the marathon race and 500 for the 10km race.
Here are the top five finishers from both races:
Women
- 1 – Birhane DIBABA, 2:19:51
- 2 – Ruti AGA, 2:21:19
- 3 – Amy CRAGG, 2:21:42
- 4 – Gideon KIPKETER, 2:06:47
- 5 – Hiroto INOUE, 2:06:54
Men
- 1 – Dickson CHUMBA, 2:05:30
- 2 – Yuta SHITARA, 2:06:11
- 3 – Amos KIPRUTO, 2:06:33
- 4 – Shure DEMISE, 2:22:07
- 5 – Helah KIPROP, 2:28:58
