Eliud Kipchoge wins Tokyo Marathon in fourth-fastest time ever

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge added a Tokyo Marathon title to his unmatched resume, winning with the fourth-fastest marathon time in history.

Kipchoge, the two-time Olympic champion and world-record holder, clocked 2:02:40 to prevail by 33 seconds. He gapped countryman Amos Kipruto in the 23rd of 26.2 miles. The top men lost about 10 seconds due to the field taking a wrong turn following a lead vehicle earlier in the race.

The only three faster marathons were Kipchoge’s world record 2:01:39 in 2018 in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele‘s 2:01:41 in 2019 in Berlin and Kipchoge’s 2:02:37 in London in 2019.

Kipchoge is 37. Note that previous marathon world-record holders Haile Gebrselassie and Wilson Kipsang won their last marathons at 36.

MORE: Tokyo Marathon Results

Kipchoge moved to road racing after placing seventh in the 2012 Kenya Olympic Trials 5000m. Since, he has won 14 of his 16 marathons, including two Olympic gold medals and a world record.

He is also the only person to run a marathon in under two hours, doing so in a staged 2019 event that wasn’t legal for record purposes.

Kipchoge has now won four of the six annual major marathons — Tokyo, London, Berlin and Chicago. He has never raced Boston or New York City, the most prestigious marathons in the U.S.

The next major marathon is Boston on April 18. London is the other major that is usually in the spring, but it will be held in the fall for a third consecutive year.

Kipchoge hasn’t announced his next marathon, but it is expected to be Berlin or London in the fall.

Another Kenyan world-record holder, Brigid Kosgei, won the women’s race in Tokyo in 2:16:02, the third-fastest women’s time in history. She prevailed by 1:56 over Ethiopian Ashete Bekere.

The only faster times are