FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tokyo Marathon 2016 Elite Race Preview
On February 28, 2016, the Tokyo Marathon will celebrate its tenth
anniversary. In this anniversary year, the best runners around the world
will again gather in Tokyo and thus we can expect a very competitive race
on the last Sunday of February.
Over the last several years, the elite field has improved step by step to
the world class level, and this year's field may be the best ever.
In the men's field, Emmanuel Mutai (KEN with the best of 2:03:13), who is
sought by major marathons around the world because of his consistency, will
be making his first appearance in the Tokyo Marathon. The Tokyo Marathon
2014 Champion Dickson Chumba (KEN with the best of 2:04:32), who has a
chance of overtaking Eliud Kipchoge, perhaps the best marathon runner in
the world at the moment, in contention for the Abbott World Marathon Majors
Series IX title, is another notable runner.
Stephen Kiprotich (UGA), the 2012 Olympic and 2013 World Champion, who
improved his personal best in the last year's Tokyo Marathon, will be
running in Tokyo again. Feyisa Lilesa (ETH), sub-2:05 marathon runner, is
also in the field, and thus the field of international runners is quite
deep.
With the Rio de Janeiro Olympic marathon team berth on the line, the
competition among Japanese runners is expected to be fierce. First, Masato
Imai of Toyota Kyushu, who dramatically improved his marathon best to
sub-2:08 last year, will be running the Tokyo Marathon again this year.
Imai will be chased by Takehiro Deki of Chugoku Electric Power, Tsuyoshi
Ugachi and Hiroyuki Yamamoto of Konica Minolta, Hiroaki Sano of Honda, and
Kohei Matsumura of Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Nagasaki. Racing
strategy of Arata Fujiwara of Miki House, with long years of marathon
experience, will be watched with much interest. Marathon debut of Kenta
Murayama, twin brother of national 10,000m record holder Kota, is awaited
with much anticipation.
Murayama is not the only noteworthy debutante in the fields. Marathon debut
of Yuma Hattori of Toyo University, Tadashi Issiki, Yusuke Ogura and Yuta
Shimoda of Aoyama Gakuin University, all collegiate runners who excelled in
famed Hakone Ekiden, are also awaited with much anticipation. With 2020
Olympics looming over the horizon, their performance will be closely
watched by experts and fans.
The women's field include two-time world champion Edna Kiplagat (KEN with
personal best of 2:19:50), one of the top runners in the world, and
Ethiopian star Aberu Kebede (with personal best of 2:20:30). In addition,
Birhane Dibaba (ETH) and Helah Kiprop (ETH), two runners with the chance of
winning Abbott Marathon Majors Series IX title will be competing. Kiprop
won a silver medal in the last year's World Championships, and thus she may
be on a roll. Without the question, this year's women's field is the best
ever assembled in the Tokyo Marathon.
Undoubtedly, this year's race on Sunday, February 28 will be very exciting
race with so many interesting perspectives
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