Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei is extensively thought to be one of many world’s biggest distance runners. At 28, he already holds world information within the 5,000m and 10,000m on the monitor. Nevertheless, his spectacular monitor occasions didn’t translate to the roads in his marathon debut in December 2023, the place he completed with a time of two:08:59. Decided to offer the space one other shot, Cheptegei will headline the 2025 Tokyo Marathon on Sunday, March 2.
Cheptegei introduced his return to the marathon on Instagram, writing, “I’ve stood on podiums and set world information, however true greatness is about the way you rise after you fall. Tokyo, I’m able to rise once more.”
Many consider Cheptegei has the potential to hitch the ranks of the marathon greats. In an interview, Eliud Kipchoge stated, “If there’s one runner who can shatter the lads’s marathon world file, it’s Joshua. He’s already a file holder in different fields and has an enormous likelihood to interrupt a world file within the marathon.”
Cheptegei’s marathon debut on the 2023 Valencia Marathon didn’t go as deliberate. He aimed to run round 2:04, however faltered within the closing 10 kilometres, ending in 2:08:59, for thirty seventh place. Whereas sub-2:10 remains to be glorious for a debut, there have been excessive expectations for the three-time Olympic medallist and world file holder.
Cheptegei enters Tokyo after two sturdy performances: successful Olympic gold within the males’s 10,000m with a Video games file of 26:43.14 and setting a half-marathon private better of 59:46 on the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon in India, which he received. His marathon potential stays a subject of curiosity for a lot of followers of distance working, however given his inexperience over the space, he’s more likely to pursue an identical time aim as in Valencia.
The Tokyo Marathon course isn’t identified to be as quick as Valencia’s, however three of the final 4 males’s successful occasions have been below two hours and 5 minutes. Kenya’s Benson Kipruto received the 2024 race in a course file 2:02:16.
Kipruto will even return for this yr’s Tokyo Marathon, trying to defend his title in opposition to the three-time Olympic medallist from Uganda. Like Cheptegei, Kipruto additionally loved success on the Paris Olympic Video games, successful a bronze medal for Kenya within the males’s marathon behind Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola and Belgium’s Bashir Abdi.
There aren’t any Canadian elites within the males’s or ladies’s skilled fields for the 2025 Tokyo Marathon on Sunday, March 2. The race will function a preview for a lot of elites hoping to qualify and compete for his or her nation within the marathon occasion on the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September.