Gelmisa leads Ethiopian trifecta at Tokyo Marathon

Tokyo, The Gulf Observer: Ethiopia’s Deso Gelmisa outsprinted compatriot Mohamed Esa down the final stretch to claim a thrilling victory in Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon.

The 25-year-old Gelmisa clocked a winning time of 2 hours, 5 minutes, 22 seconds as he crossed the finish line in the capital’s Marunouchi district less than a second ahead of Esa.

Tsegaye Getachew was three seconds off the pace as he completed a men’s podium sweep for Ethiopia.

Kenya’s Rosemary Wanjiru took out the women’s race in 2:16:28, running the seventh-fastest women’s marathon in history, according to World Athletics.

Paris Olympics hopeful Ichitaka Yamashita was the first Japanese runner home, finishing seventh in a personal-best 2:05:51, while sixth-place Tokyo Olympic finisher Suguru Osako was ninth in 2:06:13.

Yamashita moved to the fore as part of a 12-man lead group around the 35-kilometer mark. A group of six started breaking away by the last turnaround point at around 37 km before Gelmisa, Esa, Getachew and the eventual fourth-place finisher, Kenya’s Titus Kipruto, began surging for home.

The Ethiopian trio went up another gear as they ran a three-man sprint toward the ribbon in front of Tokyo Station, with last year’s Paris Marathon winner Gelmisa finishing strongest.

Japan-based Wanjiru was head and shoulders above the rest of the women’s field, winning by 28 seconds from Ethiopia’s Tsehay Gemechu, who also became just the eighth woman to run a marathon under 2:17.

Last year’s runner-up, Ethiopia’s Ashete Bekere, was third in 2:19:11, while Mizuki Matsuda was the first Japanese woman across the line, finishing sixth in 2:21:44.

The 28-year-old Wanjiru was contesting just her second marathon after sensationally debuting with a runner-up performance in Berlin last year.

She was running solo by the 39-km mark in central Tokyo before adding further distance between herself and the chasing pack.