The starting gun will fire on the newly expanded 2025 Abbott World Marathon Majors series with the eagerly anticipated Tokyo Marathon on Sunday 2 March.

Following the addition of the TCS Sydney Marathon to the now seven-race schedule, the elite global marathon season will have an exciting new look and feel. However, before the season heads Down Under in five months, all eyes will be on the Japanese capital.

As a two-time Olympic champion and a three-time World champion, Joshua Cheptegei is an all-time great on the track. However, marathon mastery has so far proved a tougher nut to crack. Following his 2:08:59 debut in Valencia in 2023, he will be eager for a stronger showing on the streets of Tokyo.

Bolstering the NN Running Team challenge is Birhanu Legese, who will be bidding to make history as the first three-time Tokyo Marathon champion. The 30-year-old Ethiopian claimed back-to-back victories in 2019 and 2020 and remains the ninth-fastest marathoner in history, thanks to his super-slick 2:02:48 in Berlin six years ago.

Last year, Legese delivered two rock-solid marathon performances, finishing third in 2:05:16 at the NN Rotterdam Marathon and eleventh in 2:05:21 at the Maratón Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich, suggesting he will once again be a strong contender in Tokyo.

Rounding out the NN Running Team challenge in the men’s race is Ugandan marathon record-holder Stephen Kissa. The 29-year-old, a two-time Olympian, clocked an eye-catching lifetime best of 2:04:48 in 2022 and secured a highly respectable fifth-place finish in the 2023 World Championships marathon in Budapest. Last year, he also demonstrated his ability to perform well in Japanese conditions with a runner-up finish at the Osaka Marathon.

In the women’s race, Degitu Azimeraw leads the NN Running Team charge. The Ethiopian impressed on her marathon debut, winning the 2019 TCS Amsterdam Marathon, and further cemented her status by setting a personal best of 2:17:58 when finishing second at the 2021 TCS London Marathon.

Last year, Azimeraw captured the Barcelona Marathon title just sixteen months after giving birth to a son, and is more than capable of delivering a strong performance in Tokyo.

Also competing in NN Running Team colors is Desi Jisa. The Bahraini athlete owns a personal best of 2:20:47, set when she finished second at the 2023 Doha Marathon. She also secured a podium spot by placing second at the Seoul Marathon and finished eighth at the TCS Amsterdam Marathon last year.

A flat, fast course, the Tokyo Marathon starts at the Tokyo Metropolitan Building and winds through the city before finishing at Tokyo Station. The starting gun will fire at 9:10 a.m. (local time) on Sunday 2 March with a field of 38,000 runners.

As announced by the organization on 20 February, the full list of international broadcasters will be announced on the day of the race. 

The Tokyo Marathon will start at 9:10 a.m. local time for both men and women, which corresponds to the following international times.