Ethiopia’s Tadese Takele yesterday defended his Tokyo Marathon title, edging Kenya’s Geoffrey Toroitich in a sprint finish to cross the line in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 37 seconds.
Takele finished with the same official time as Toroitich after a dramatic battle for the line, with Kenya’s Alexander Mutiso just one second further behind in third place.
“I knew that the final stage would be decisive,” 23-year-old Takele said. “Around 41km I wanted to wait and see what would happen and then I made my move right before the finish.”
Photo: EPA
Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei won the women’s race in 2:14:29, a new course record.
Ethiopia’s Berukan Welde was second in 2:16:36, followed by her countrywoman Hawi Feysa in 2:17:39.
In warm, dry conditions in the Japanese capital, a men’s leading pack including Takele, Toroitich, Mutiso and Kenya’s Daniel Mateiko broke away around the 37km mark.
Takele made a late move and managed to stay in front despite a last-gasp challenge from Toroitich.
“Today’s race was a great one,” Takele said. “There was intense and positive competition, and I’m truly happy that I was able to win.”
The men’s field was weakened by the withdrawal through injury of Kenya’s Timothy Kiplagat and Ethiopia’s Milkesa Mengesha in the lead-up to the race.
In the women’s competition, Kosgei was in a class of her own and finished more than two minutes clear of her nearest rival.
Kosgei, the Tokyo Marathon champion and Olympic silver medalist in 2021, has said she would compete for Turkey at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
“We have a lot of athletes in Kenya,” Kosgei said. “I want some young generation to follow my step to join me in Turkey.”
MEDVEDEV AWAITS: The world No. 1 Spainiard said that he is ‘finding the right shots’ as he pushed his record so far this year to 16 victories and no losses Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday extended his unbeaten season and got revenge over Cameron Norrie to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells for a fifth straight year. The world No. 1 from Spain emerged from a see-saw battle with 29th-ranked Norrie with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. In the semis tomorrow, he faces Russian Daniil Medvedev, who pushed his own ATP winning streak to eight matches with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over defending champion Jack Draper. World No. 2 Jannik Sinner powered past Learner Tien 6-1, 6-2 to line up a semi-final with fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Arthur Fils. Alcaraz, 22, became
Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic. The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when
Ollie Watkins’ second-half header on Thursday gave Aston Villa a 1-0 win over Lille OSC in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie. Just past the hour mark, Ezri Konsa sent a deep pass that Emi Buendia headed to Watkins in the home team’s box. The England forward noticed goalkeeper Berke Ozer was off his line before sending a looping header over him and into the net. Minutes later, Watkins wasted a chance to double the advantage when he failed to score in a one-on-one with the ’keeper. Nottingham Forest were stunned 1-0 by Danish club Midtjylland, with substitute Cho
Brice Turang and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s consecutive RBI singles proved to be the difference in the US’ 5-3 win over Canada in a World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarterfinal on Friday night in Houston. The US faces the Dominican Republic, which crushed South Korea 10-0 in seven innings in its quarter-final, in a semifinal Sunday in Miami for a spot in Tuesday’s championship. The Dominican team has won all five games in this WBC by a combined margin of 51-10. It appeared the US squad was headed toward a cozy victory when it built a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning. A first-inning RBI groundout
RSS