Eliud Kipchoge to make Tokyo Marathon debut next month

Double Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge will return to Japan next month to make his debut at the Tokyo Marathon.

Kipchoge’s management announced on Friday that the world marathon record holder has been inspired to compete in, and win, all six races of the World Marathon Majors having already won three in Chicago, London and Berlin.

Tokyo, New York and Boston are the three other races in the series which Kipchoge is yet to compete in.

This year’s Tokyo Marathon will be run on March 6.

“In August, Eliud successfully defended his Olympic marathon crown on the streets of Sapporo at the Tokyo 2020 Games. Now the Kenyan distance running icon has targeted a return to Japan, where he makes his Tokyo Marathon debut,” his management company, Global Sports Communication, which also runs the elite NN Running Team, said in Friday’s statement.

“Eliud, the world record-holder and the first man in history to run a sub-two-hour marathon – achieving the feat at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge – has spoken of his desire to compete and win all six Abbott World Marathon Majors, regarded as the world’s top six marathon races,” the statement added.

Kipchoge, 37, has won the London Marathon four times, Berlin Marathon three times and Chicago Marathon once, in 2014.

He holds the world marathon record at two hours, one minute and 39 seconds from the 2018 Berlin Marathon and also became the first man to run the distance in under two hours (1:59:41) at the famous INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna on October 12, 2019.

“I would like to thank the organisers of the Tokyo Marathon to make it possible for me and my colleague athletes to race in Tokyo,” Kipchoge said regarding his Tokyo debut.

“My focus has been on Tokyo from the beginning of my training cycle, and I can say I am ready to race there. I am very excited to run in a country where running is a crucial part of the sport culture and looking forward to experience the Japanese excitement for running and the marathon in particular.”

Regarded as the greatest distance runner of all time, Kipchoge ran sparingly last year, winning his second Olympic marathon title in Sapporo, Japan, and the specially-arranged the NN Mission Marathon in Enschede, the Netherlands.

A world 5,000 metres champion in 2003 and two-time Olympic medallist over the track distance, Kipchoge has won 13 of his 15 career marathons.

Kipchoge’s NN Running Team teammates also lined up for Tokyo are Jonathan Korir, Laban Korir and Ashete Bekere with Philemon Kacheran and Noah Kipkemboi the designated pacemakers.