The 2021 Tokyo Marathon () was the fifteenth edition of the annual marathon race in Tokyo. The competition was held on Sunday 6 March 2022, having been postponed twice due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The elite events were won by Kenyans

Eliud Kipchoge Eliud Kipchoge (born 5 November 1984) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly specialized in the 5000 metres. Kipchoge is the Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon, 2016 and Athletics at th ...

and

Brigid Kosgei Brigid Jepchirchir Kosgei (born 20 February 1994) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specialises in the marathon. She won the 2018 and 2019 Chicago Marathons, the 2019 and 2020 London Marathons and the 2021 Tokyo Marathon. Kosgei was the m ...

respectively, whilst the wheelchair races were won by Swiss athlete

Marcel Hug Marcel Eric Hug (; born 16 January 1986) is a Paralympic Games, Paralympic Track and field, athlete from Switzerland competing in category T54 (classification), T54 wheelchair racing events. Hug, nicknamed 'The Silver Bullet', has competed in fo ...

and Japanese competitor Tsubasa Kina. Around 20,000 people competed in the mass participation event.

Background

In October 2020, the 2021 Tokyo Marathon was postponed from its usual date in March to October, due to the

. In September 2021, the event was postponed again, with the new date being 6 March 2022. As a consequence of this postponement, the 2022 Tokyo Marathon was cancelled, and the Tokyo Marathon was the only one of the

World Marathon Majors The World Marathon Majors (WMM) sponsored by Abbott Laboratories is a championship-style competition for marathon runners that started in 2006. A points-based competition founded on seven major marathon races recognised as the most high-profile o ...

that did not happen in 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, international competitors were not permitted in the mass participation event. All competitors were required to either be double-vaccinated or have a negative result from a PCR test. Slight alterations were made to the course from previous years due to building works near

Iidabashi is a district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was in the former ward of Kōjimachi, which existed in Tokyo until 1947. Etymology Iidabashi is named after a nearby bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical o ...

and on National Route 15.

Competitors

The elite men's race featured

, who won the marathon event at the delayed

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. It was his first competitive race since the Olympics. Other competitors included

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

winner Legese Birhanu, Mosinet Geremew, Amos Kipruto and

Tamirat Tola Tamirat Tola Abera (born 11 August 1991) is an Ethiopian Olympic and world champion long-distance runner. Hailing from the regional state of Oromia, he competes in track, road and cross country events. He won gold medal in the marathon at the ...

, all of whom had a

personal best A personal record, or a personal best (abbreviated to PB), is an individual's best performance in a given sporting discipline. It is most commonly found in athletic sports, such as track and field, other forms of running, swimming and weightlifting ...

time under 2:04, and

Shura Kitata Shura Kitata Tola (born 9 June 1996) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and half-marathon. He has raced in several World Marathon Majors, including the 2020 London Marathon, where he won the race in a time of 2:0 ...

, who won the

2020 London Marathon The 2020 London Marathon was the 40th running of the London Marathon, annual marathon race in London, United Kingdom, which took place on 4 October 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, COVID-19 pandemic, the race was postp ...

. Japanese athlete and national record holder Kengo Suzuki who came fourth at the

2021 Chicago Marathon The 2021 Chicago Marathon was held on October 10, 2021. It was the 43rd edition of the annual Chicago Marathon, and the first after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019. The 2020 Chicago Marathon was canceled as a result of the pandemic. T ...

, also raced. The favourite for the elite women's race was

, who came second in the marathon event at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics. Other competitors with a personal best under 2:20 were Angela Tanui, Ashete Bekere and Hiwot Gebrekidan. American Sara Hall raced, as did Japanese athlete Mao Ichiyama. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were fewer international athletes in the wheelchair events; over 80% of competitors were Japanese. The men's wheelchair competition featured Swiss athlete

, who won the marathon T54 race at the delayed

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inte ...

. Other competitors included Briton Johnboy Smith and Tomoki Suzuki, who was the only Japanese competitor in the Paralympic T54 marathon event. The women's wheelchair race featured two competitors: 2020 winner Tsubasa Kina and

Wakako Tsuchida (born 15 October 1974) is an athlete from Tokyo, Japan, who is an accomplished women's wheelchair marathoner, ice sledge racer and triathlete. She was the first professional wheelchair athlete from Japan and the first Japanese athlete to win g ...

Race summary

The temperature at the race start was , which was ideal for fast running. The elite men's event was won by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge in a time of 2:02:40, which was the fourth fastest time in history and a competition record. Shura Kitata fell away from the leading pack after , and at the , the field took a wrong turn which cost them around 10 seconds. At the halfway point, the leading pack contained five runners: Kipchoge, Amos Kipruto, Tamirat Tola, Mosinet Geremew and Jonathan Korir; Geremew withdrew from the race after . After , only Kipchoge, Kipruto and Tola were in the leading pack, and Kipchoge broke away from fellow countryman Amos Kipruto after of the race. Kipruto finished second, with Ethiopian Tamirat Tola third. Kengo Suzuki finished fourth, and his time was the second fastest by a Japanese man in history. The elite women's race was won by Kenyan Brigid Kosgei in a time of 2:16:02, the third fastest ever time as well as being a competition record. At the half way point, the leading pack contained Kosgei,

Gotytom Gebreslase Gotytom Gebreslase (born 15 January 1995) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the marathon at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. In 2021, in her marathon debut, Gebreslase took victory in the women's race at the ...

, Ashete Bekere, Angela Tanui and Hiwot Gebrekidan. Kosgei and Gebreslase broke away after , and Gebreslase was later distanced. Towards the end of the race, Gebreslase was overtaken by Ashete Bekere, who finished second; Gebreslase crossed the finishing line in third place. The men's wheelchair race was won by Swiss athlete Marcel Hug, in a course record time of 1:22:16. Tomoki Suzuki and Hiroki Nishida finished in second and third places respectively. Tsubasa Kina won the women's wheelchair event; her time of 1:40:21 was slightly slower than the course record that she set in 2020. Around 20,000 people competed in the mass participation event. It was the first Tokyo Marathon mass participation event since

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, as the 2020 race only featured elite athletes.

Results

Men

Women

Wheelchair men

Wheelchair women

References

{{2022 in athletics 2022 in Japanese sport 2022 marathons 2022 in Tokyo

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Tokyo Marathon The is an annual marathon sporting event in Tokyo, Japan. It is a World Athletics Platinum Label marathon and one of the seven World Marathon Majors. The latest edition of the race took place on . It is sponsored by Tokyo Metro. History The fi ...

Tokyo Marathon, 2021