Africa throws its first party at the Tokyo Marathon

Havana. – contestants Africans led the first long-distance race of the season, thanks to the victories of Kenya’s Rosemary Wanjiru and Ethiopian Desu Gelmisa at the 2023 Tokyo Marathon.

She prevailed with a personal time of 2:16:28 hours and set the seventh-best time ever for a woman in the 42 kilometers 195 metres.

In the cold season morning Majors. Leading the way from the start, Wanjiru passed kilometer 39, but that didn’t tempt him to slow down. Against all expectation, he imprinted more power in his stride, according to reports from the Japanese capital, “looking over his shoulder through the entire last stretch, without fearing anything.”

Ethiopians Tsehay Gemeshu (2:16:56) and Ashti Bekere (2:19:11) took the other podium spots, in that order. The former added to her award the fact that she became the eighth woman to lose 2 hours and 17 minutes in the grueling test.

Among the men, Jelmesa faced a more complex situation, decided thanks to technology. His time is 2:05:22, he shared with compatriot Muhammad Issa, taking second place.

In this way, the podium positions were separated by only three seconds, since the Ethiopian Tsegaye Getachew crossed the sentence line with a time of 2:05:25 hours.

Jelmesa had raced with a personal lap of 2:04:53 hours, which he achieved three years ago in the Spanish city of Valencia. He also boasted of his victory in the 2022 Paris Marathon, which is why he does not consider his success a coincidence, although no one imagined such an end.

The most important marathon on Japanese soil was attended this time by more than 38,000 participants, a significant figure given the full return to normal life after the hiatus imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Like almost all sporting events, the 2020 edition has been suspended and invitations for the next two years feature only elite runners.

Despite the rivalry and quality of the main competitors, the event records remained the same as those held by the current world record holders: Kenyans Eliud Kipchoge (2:02:40) and Brigid Kosgei (2:16:02).

The new season of Majors The second stop will be on April 17 with the 2023 Boston Marathon. If unforeseen events do not happen until then, we will see Kipchoge walking the streets of that American city.