Kipruto eyes record in Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon
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Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 27.02.25. | 08:55
Last year he went 24 seconds quicker than Eliud Kipchoge's 2022 course record to win his third Major
Sunday 2 March marks the start of the 2025 World Marathon Majors as the Tokyo Marathon takes place on its traditional date, the first Sunday of March.
Kenya’s Benson Kipruto and Ethiopia’s Sutume Asefa Kebede, last year’s winners in course records of 2:02:16 and 2:15:55 respectively, headline this year’s fields and are keen to take their marks further down, with some formidable opposition eyeing their crowns.
On her part, Kebede beat the previous record of 2:16:02, set by Brigid Kosgei in 2021, by seven seconds.
For Kipruto, it is not just a title defense. After taking Eliud Kipchoge’s course record, going 24 seconds quicker, in 2024, he is back to do what no Kenyan has done since the race began, secure back-to-back titles. The last man to achieve it was Ethiopia’s Birhanu Legese in 2019 and 2020.
It is no walk in the park for Kipruto, however, as two-time Olympic middle-distance champion who transitioned to the marathon last year Joshua Cheptegei, leads a contingent of title challengers. The world 5000m and 10,000m record-holder returns to the roads to contest his second marathon after his 2:08:59 debut in Valencia in 2023.
Also presenting a tough challenge is two-time champion Legese, who will be bidding to make history as the first three-time Tokyo Marathon champion. The 30-year-old Ethiopian claimed back-to-back victories in 2019 and 2020 and remains the ninth-fastest marathoner in history, thanks to his super-slick 2:02:48 in Berlin six years ago.
Last year, Legese delivered two rock-solid marathon performances, finishing third in 2:05:16 at the NN Rotterdam Marathon and eleventh in 2:05:21 at the Maratón Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich, suggesting he will once again be a strong contender in Tokyo.
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Additionally, Ugandan marathon record-holder Stephen Kissa is on the field. The 29-year-old, a two-time Olympian, clocked an eye-catching lifetime best of 2:04:48 in 2022 and secured a highly respectable fifth-place finish in the 2023 World Championships marathon in Budapest. Last year, he also demonstrated his ability to perform well in Japanese conditions with a runner-up finish at the Osaka Marathon.
Another Ethiopian, Derese Geleta, a sub-2:03 runner from his second-place finish at the Valencia Marathon last year has been touted as Kipruto’s main challenger if he can recapture that form.
Compatriot Vincent Ngetich was third in Tokyo last year and fourth in Chicago. He also made the podium in Berlin in 2023, coming second. He is another talented athlete threatening to snatch a Majors win from the Olympic bronze medalist.
