6 Thoughts on 2025 Tokyo Marathon: Joshua Cheptegei Struggles, A Japanese College Guy Goes for It (And Pays Dearly), and Sutume Kebede Holds on for a Repeat
By Robert Johnson and Jonathan GaultEthiopians Tadese Takele and Sutume Kebede swept the titles at the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday morning, the first Abbott World Marathon Major of 2025. The 22-year-old Takele, a 2021 Olympian in the steeplechase (8:09 pb in 2021 at age 18, heat of Olympics, also won World Jr silver that year) who had run 2:03:24 in his debut in Berlin in 2023, broke away from countryman Deresa Geleta and Kenya’s Vincent Ngetich at 39k and ran a one-second pb of 2:03:23 to earn his first marathon victory in his third attempt. Defending champion Kebede, meanwhile, became the first woman to win Tokyo twice (the race only began in its modern form in 2007), as she opened a big gap early and was never caught, running 2:16:31 for victory ahead of Kenya’s Winfridah Moseti (2:16:56) and Ethiopia’s Hawi Feysa (2:17:00).
Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei, a two-time Olympic champion on the track and the world record holder in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, ran 2:05:59 (an improvement on his 2:08:59 pb) to finish 9th after going out with the second pack.
Below, six thoughts on 2025 Tokyo. *Top 10 Results *Timing Site
Tadese Takele wins it as Benson Kipruto finally runs a bad marathon (for him)
Tokyo is often overshadowed by the spring majors in Boston and London, but the 2025 edition featured some serious marathon talent, particularly on the men’s side, where the #1 and #2 men in our 2024 world rankings, Benson Kipruto, and Deresa Geleta, were lining up. But the winner was not Kipruto or Geleta, but rather the converted steepler Tadese Takele of Ethiopia.
Takele had done little to suggest he was going to win his first major today – well other than running 2:03:25 for 3rd in his debut in Berlin in September 2023 – a month after his 21st birthday. Since then, he had only finished one race, taking a step back by running 2:05:13 in Berlin last year. Clearly that step back was only temporary as Takele looked strong today, doing enough to outlast Geleta and Vincent Ngetich at the end of the race.
Meanwhile, the search for a clear World #1 on the men’s side continues in the post-Kiptum/Kipchoge era. It looked like it could be Sisay Lemma last year after he won 2023 Valencia and 2024 Boston back-to-back, but he missed the Olympics with an injury and was only 10th in his return at 2024 Valencia. Tamirat Tola was brilliant in winning Olympic gold, but was a DNF in London in April and only 4th in New York in November. On Sunday, Kipruto had a chance to strengthen his case for World #1 after a win at 2024 Tokyo and Olympic bronze, but he was only 6th today in 2:05:46 – his first time finishing off the podium in any marathon since October 2024.
Perhaps a newcomer will make their case for World #1 in London, where 2023 World Half champ Sabastian Sawe (2:02:05 debut win at 2024 Valencia) and half marathon world record holder Jacob Kiplimo (debut) are both in the field.
Kebede ran 2:16:31 the hard way
It’s never fun when each and every split of your marathon is slower than the previous split, but that’s exactly what women’s winner Sutume Kebede did today.
Check out these splits.
15:47-15:50-16:01-16:31-17:20 and then 7:56 for the final 2.195km (that’s 18:04 5k pace or 2:32:30 marathon pace).
If you look at her two halves, they were 66:20-70:11. What was a 2:33 lead at 30k ended up only being a 25-second margin of victory. Behind Kebede, Kenya’s Winfridah Moraa Moseti was one of the few elites not to run a huge positive split as she went 68:23-68:33 to get second in 2:16:56, a big pb from her 2:18:25 from 2024 Hamburg.
Of course, Kebede’s run may have felt like a jog in the park for her – remember in Chicago last fall, she went 64:30-73:02 in her two halves.
Still, a win is a win, and Kebede is now the first woman to win Tokyo titles, let alone back-to-back. Granted, the Tokyo Marathon has only been around since 2007 (there were two predecessor races in Tokyo before then, but both were male-only).
Joshua Cheptegei still has a lot of work to do in the marathon
Cheptegei’s debut in Valencia in 2023 did not go well. He entered the race off an injury-shortened buildup but still ran very aggressively, going out with the leaders in 60:36 through halfway before falling apart and fading to 2:08:59 and 37th place at the finish.
Ahead of Tokyo, Cheptegei said his training had gone better, but said in the pre-race press conference, “I’m still a student of the marathon. I’m on a learning curve and hope to learn from the big guys in the marathon like Benson and Geleta.”
That much was evident today as Cheptegei chose to go out with the second pack, where he hit halfway in 62:09. Amazingly, that was only good enough for 22nd place, so Cheptegei did move up 12 places by the finish. But that was because a ton of guys ahead of him were blowing up – Cheptegei actually ran a positive split of 62:09-63:50.
Most athletes in the field ran a positive split because conditions were cooler during the first half (55 degrees Fahrenheit and overcast at the start) than the second (63 and sunny) and they went out too fast. But with minimal wind, it was still a pretty good day to run fast.
Yes, Cheptegei ran a three-minute pb, but this was not a good sign for him. Valencia could be written off as a race where Cheptegei wasn’t quite ready, one where he was still focused on the track. But now, in 2025, Cheptegei is meant to be fully-focused on the roads. A guy who has run 12:35 and 26:11 and won two Olympic golds should be running a lot faster than 2:05:59, especially in the supershoe era.
Selemon Barega, a great track runner but one far less successful than Cheptegei, just ran 2:05:15 in his debut in Seville, and he won that race. Kenenisa Bekele, Cheptegei’s predecessor as 5k/10k WR holder, ran 2:05:04 in his debut in Paris in 2014 – and he was further removed from his track prime than Cheptegei and didn’t have supershoes, either. Mo Farah, like Cheptegei, ran 2:08 in his “soft” debut at the 2014 London Marathon. But when he began to focus on the marathon full-time in 2018, he ran 2:06:21 and finished 3rd in London.
The point: Cheptegei is hoping he’s on a learning curve, but what if that improvement never comes? Marathon training is different from track training, but if you are good enough to win global 10,000m titles in 2022, 2023, and 2024, you should be able to run a fast marathon in 2025. If you’re a Cheptegei fan, it’s not time to panic just yet about his marathon career. But it’s time to start getting worried.
Selfishly, we’d like to see Cheptegei return to the track and try to win the 10,000 at Worlds in Tokyo in September. He could battle the likes of Grant Fisher and Berihu Aregawi and try to make amends for his Olympic 10,000 silver that he won in 2021. Four world titles would also tie him with Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele for the most in history at 10,000m (though both of those guys have two Olympic 10k titles to Cheptegei’s one), but Cheptegei said pre-race that he’s committed to the marathon.
If he does stick to the roads, it would make sense for Cheptegei to target New York in the fall. As Meb Keflezighi and Eliud Kipchoge have shown in opposite fashions, there’s a big difference between being a great marathoner in flat races and hilly ones, particularly those that aren’t rabbitted.
MB: Joshua Cheptegei finishes 9th (Tokyo Marathon)
Aoi Ota did exactly what he said he’d do – run like an idiot with the leaders (and it was entertaining)
Before the race, Aoyama Gakuin University’s Aoi Ota, who according to Brett Larner ran the equivalent of a 58:56 half marathon at last year’s Hakone Ekiden, said he’d go with the leaders no matter what. Now considering the Japanese record is 2:04:56 and the leaders in Tokyo were targeting 2:01, that was a bold statement and we were very curious if he’d actually do it.
Though Ota may have been feeling confident because his college teammates have made transitioning to the marathon look easy in 2025. Already this year, Aoyama Gakuin stars Hiroki Wakabayashi (2:06:07 at age 22) and Asahi Kuroda (2:06:05 at age 20) have each broken the Japanese collegiate record in the marathon. Yes, that’s right. Two Japanese college guys from the same school have broken 2:06:10 in the last month, which is equal to what the US has produced in the last 16 years (h/t Running UberNerd).
In the end, Ota didn’t just go with the leaders, he wound up pushing the pace. The lead group, with Ota part of it, hit 15k in 43:29 – that’s 2:02:19 pace. Again, the Japanese record is 2:04:56 – you’d think that would be plenty fast for Ota, particularly since it was slightly warmer than ideal. But no, at 17k, Ota was running right on the pacers, and soon could be seen talking to one of the pacers. At 18k, he, Geleta, and the two pacers started to gap the rest of the lead group.
Ota hit halfway with the leaders in 61:19 but fell off during the 23km and he fell off hard. His first four 5km segments were all 14:38 or faster but his 5th was 14:57, his 6th was 15:46, and his 7th and final 5km segment (nothing recorded after 35k) was 18:00. Thanks to his stupidly fast start, he was still on 2:08:47 pace at 35k. If he ran 18:00 5k pace all the way home, he would have clocked 2:12:50 but he ended up dropping out.
The Japanese men who took the biggest swings in Tokyo came up short, but Japan still had four guys run 2:06 on Sunday
Ota totally blew up after his crazy first half, and Olympic 6th placer Akira Akasaki also faded after an aggressive first half, going 62:08-65:40 to finish 17th in 2:07:48.
But some of their countrymen went out a bit slower and hung on well. Tsubasa Ichiyama was the top Japanese man in 2:06:00 – which is only good for 9th on the all-time Japanese list – as he ran a pb of 1:44 by running close to even splits (62:44-63:16). The second Japanese man, 32-year-old Hiroto Inoue, followed a similar gameplan as he went 62:43-63:31 to finish 12th in 2:06:14. Yuhei Orano (13th, 2:06:23), and Yohei Ikeda (14th, 2:06:48) also got under 2:07.
Over the last eight days, Japan has had 10 men break 2:07 – six in Osaka last week, four in Tokyo today. By comparison, only four Americans have ever broken 2:07.
The Chinese and Australian records didn’t fall in the women’s race
China’s Deshun Zhang was the top non-African-born woman in 9th in 2:20:51. That’s a big pb for her as the 29-year-old came in with a 2:24:05 pb. She went out crazy fast – 68:25 – but Sun Yingji’s 21-year-old national record of 2:19:39 lived to see another day. 37-year-old Australian Jessica Stenson finished 10th in a big pb of 2:22:56 but she went for the 2:21:34 national record as she went out in 70:08. That’s wild considering she had never broken 2:25 in 15 career marathon finishes until last year when she ran 2:24:01 in Daegu in April.
It was a disappointing day for the Japanese women. The top Japanese woman was Yuka Ando, who was 11th in 2:23:37 after going out in 70:08.
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