Former Kenyan Betsy Saina who recently switched her nationality to USA finished 5th at the Tokyo Marathon.
Kenya’s Rosemary Wanjiru ran herself into the top 6 of the women’s world marathon all-time list after her win during the 2023 edition of the Tokyo Marathon in Japan on Sunday 5th March.
Wanjiru posted a personal best time of 2 hours 16 minutes and 28 seconds to come ahead of Ethiopia’s Gamechu Tsehay (2:16:56) and Ashate Bekere (2:19:11) who were in second and third positions respectively.
Running the second marathon of her career after a 2:18:00 debut appearance that saw her come second in Berlin last year, the Japan based Wanjiru commanded the field and took a comfortable lead after 39 Kilometers to win the race 28 second ahead of the pack.
Former Kenyan Betsy Saina who recently switched her nationality to USA finished 5th.
It was a clean top three sweep for Ethiopia in the men’s race with Gelmisa Deso and Esa Mohammed being separated by a second to finish ahead of their compatriot Gatecha Kebede (2:05:25).
In the tight finish, the 25-year-old Gelmisa finished in 2:05:22 to win his first World Marathon Major just by one second ahead of team mate Mohamed Esa.The first Kenya on the finish line was Titus Kipruto with a time of 2:05:32.
Women
1 Rosemary Wanjiru (KEN) 2:16:28
2 Tsehay Gemechu (ETH) 2:16:56
3 Ashete Bekere (ETH) 2:19:11
4 Worknesh Edesa (ETH) 2:20.13
5 Betsy Saina (USA) 2:21:40
6 Mizuki Matsuda (JPN) 2:21:44
7 Ai Hosoda (JPN) 2:22:08
8 Lindsay Flanagan (USA) 2:26:08
9 Kaori Morita (JPN) 2:26:31
10 Yukari Abe (JPN) 2:28:20
Men
1 Deso Gelmisa (ETH) 2:05:22
2 Mohamed Esa (ETH) 2:05:22
3 Tsegaye Getachew (ETH) 2:05:25
4 Titus Kipruto (KEN) 2:05:32
5 Cameron Levins (CAN) 2:05:36
6 Deme Tadu Abate (ETH) 2:05:38
7 Ichitaka Yamashita (JPN) 2:05:51
8 Kenya Sonota (KEN) 2:05:59
9 Suguru Osako (JPN) 2:06:13
10 Hiroto Inoue (JPN) 2:07:09