{"id":2062,"date":"2014-02-23T04:38:35","date_gmt":"2014-02-23T10:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/?p=2062"},"modified":"2014-02-23T04:38:35","modified_gmt":"2014-02-23T10:38:35","slug":"african-conquest-of-tokyo-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/news\/african-conquest-of-tokyo-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"African conquest of Tokyo 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dickson<\/a><\/p>\n

2014 World Marathon Majors competition picked up where it left off last year, with two more course records falling at today\u2019s 8th annual Tokyo Marathon. <\/p>\n

Kenya\u2019s Dickson Chumba and Ethiopia\u2019s Tirfi Tsegaye won their first WMM event titles in style, posting course records of 2:05:42 and 2:22:23, respectively. Chumba\u2019s victory placed him in a four-way tie for sixth place in the 2013-2014 WMM series, while Tsegaye catapulted from 24th to fourth in the 2013-2014 rankings.<\/p>\n

In Tokyo\u2019s second year as a World Marathon Major, more than 36,000 athletes crossed the start line on a cool, overcast day in Japan\u2019s capital city. The conditions proved to be perfect for marathon racing, as Chumba bettered the men\u2019s course record by more than a minute (previously 2:06:50 set by Kenya\u2019s Dennis Kimetto last year), and Tsegaye carved more than three minutes off the women\u2019s course record (previously 2:25:28 set by Ethiopia\u2019s Atsede Habtamu in 2012).<\/p>\n

Despite arriving with a sub 2:06 personal best, Chumba was not favored as a likely winner, as his previous WMM best was a seventh place showing at the Boston Marathon last spring. He also started but did not finish the 2012 Boston and 2011 Chicago marathons. With the lead pack still 12-strong through 30K, it was Chumba who produced the surge that dropped the race favorite Abel Kirui of Kenya, the two-time world champion. By 35K, the pack was down to six, and 5K later, with Chumba in charge, the only athlete hanging on was world championship bronze medalist Tadese Tola of Ethiopia. Chumba broke the finish tape in 2:05:42, a personal best by four seconds, and Tola followed 15 seconds later in second. In total, three athletes were under the previous course record, as Kenya\u2019s Sammy Kitwara was third in 2:06:30. The top five was rounded out by Kenyans Michael Kipyego (2:06:58), the 2012 Tokyo winner, and first-time WMM point-scorer Peter Some (2:07:05). Kirui was 10th in 2:09:04.<\/p>\n

Tsegaye won a hard-earned victory over fellow Ethiopian Birhane Dibaba. Like Chumba in the men\u2019s race, Tsegaye was the aggressor, moving to the front near 30K and dropping race favoite Lucy Kabuu of Kenya by 35K. With one kilometer to go, Tsegaye appeared spent and Dibaba seemed on her way to victory. But the 2012 Berlin Marathon runner-up fought back with half a kilometer to go, crossing the finish line seven seconds ahead of Dibaba. Kabuu was third in 2:24:16, and Caroline Rotich of Kenya was fourth in 2:24:35, putting the top four under the previous course record. Fifth place went to WMM rookie Janet Rono of Kenya with a personal best 2:26:03.<\/p>\n

The top Japanese athletes were Kohei Matsumura, eighth in the men\u2019s race in a personal best 2:08:09, and Mai Ito, seventh in the women\u2019s race in 2:28:36.<\/p>\n

WMM competition resumes in April with the Virgin Money London Marathon (April 13) and the B.A.A. Boston Marathon (April 21).<\/p>\n

2013-2014 WMM Series Leaderboard<\/p>\n

Top 10 Men
\n1\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Dennis Kimetto (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a050 pts. \u2013 Competing in Boston
\n2\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Tsegaye Kebede (ETH)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a045 pts. \u2013 Competing in London
\n3\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Lelisa Desisa (ETH)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a040 pts. \u2013 Competing in Boston
\n4\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Emmanuel Mutai (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a030 pts. \u2013 Competing in London
\n5\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Wilson Kipsang (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a026 pts. \u2013 Competing in London
\n6\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Dickson Chumba (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a025 pts. \u2013 Competed in Tokyo
\n6\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Stephen Kiprotich (UGA)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a025 pts. \u2013 Competing in London
\n6\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Geoffrey Mutai (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a025 pts. \u2013 Competing in London
\n6\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Tadese Tola (ETH)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a025 pts. \u2013 Competed in Tokyo
\n10\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Michael Kipyego (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a020 pts. \u2013 Competed in Tokyo
\n10\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Sammy Kitwara (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a020 pts. \u2013 Competed in Tokyo
\n10\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Micah Kogo (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a020 pts. \u2013 Competing in Boston<\/p>\n

Top 10 Women
\n1\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Priscah Jeptoo (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a050 pts. \u2013 Competing in London
\n1\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Rita Jeptoo (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a050 pts. \u2013 Competing in Boston
\n3\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Edna Kiplagat (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a040 pts. \u2013 Competing in London
\n4\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Tirfi Tsegaye (ETH)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a026 pts. \u2013 Competed in Tokyo
\n5\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Sharon Cherop (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a025 pts. \u2013 Competing in Boston
\n5\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Aberu Kebede (ETH)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a025 pts. \u2013 Competing in London
\n5\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Florence Kiplagat (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a025 pts. \u2013 Competing in London
\n8\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Irina Mikitenko (GER)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a020 pts.
\n9\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Valeria Straneo (ITA)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a016 pts.
\n10\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Buzunesh Deba (ETH)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a015 pts. \u2013 Competing in Boston
\n10\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Jemima Sumgong (KEN)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a015 pts. \u2013 Competing in Boston
\n10\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Meseret Hailu (ETH)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a015 pts. \u2013 Competing in Boston
\n10 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Birhane Dibaba (ETH)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a015 pts. \u2013 Competed in Tokyo
\n10\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Yeshi Esayias (ETH)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a015 pts. \u2013 Competing in Boston<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2014 World Marathon Majors competition picked up where it left off last year, with two more course records falling at today\u2019s 8th annual Tokyo Marathon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,18,29,1,54,61],"tags":[94,306,343,518,865,871],"class_list":["post-2062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopia","category-featured","category-kenya","category-news","category-tokyo","category-wmm","tag-94","tag-dickson-chumba","tag-ethiopia","tag-kenya","tag-tirfi-tsegaye","tag-tokyo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.time-to-run.com\/marathon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}