167 runners go sub-2:30 in Tokyo

The Tokyo Marathon is known as one of the deepest marathons in the world, and despite poor conditions for Sunday’s race, the times were extremely fast. 

RELATED: Wet, cold Tokyo Marathon dominated by Ethiopians

In the men’s field, 159 runners ran under the 2:30 mark. According to the IAAF scoring tables, a 2:30 men’s marathon is worth 831 points. In the women’s field, the top eight runners also went sub-2:30.

The equivalent women’s marathon time is 3:03:02, and 118 women went under mark. Among those women was American record holder Deena Kastor. She finished in 2:51:58 and received her fifth world major marathon finish. She just has Berlin to complete and she will have achieved all six stars.

This medal means a lot to me. In the results, you may not think I’m happy w/ today, but that’s far from the truth. I persevered through a rough race, drawing on the support of millions cheering on the sidelines & using years of cultivated positivity to get through #TokyoMarathon pic.twitter.com/TyVSchh76c

— Deena Kastor (@DeenaKastor) March 3, 2019

Ethiopians had an excellent day, sweeping the women’s podium and both men’s and women’s winners scoring their first career wins. Ruti Aga ran 2:20:40, after three second-place finishes in her last three marathons. Helen Tola finished second, in 2:21:01, and Shure Demise was third, in 2:21:05. 

? WINNER ?@ruti_aga ?? has won her first #AbbottWMM race after so many second places! She's done it! ?#TokyoMarathon2019 pic.twitter.com/XUQzWm8Wyr

— Abbott WMMajors (@WMMajors) March 3, 2019

In the men’s race, Men’s winner Birhanu Legese, also of Ethiopia, finished in 2:04:48, the fastest marathon time in the world so far this year and his first marathon win. Bedan Karoki of Kenya was second, running a personal best 2:06:48, and 2018 champion, the Kenyan Dickson Chumba, finished third, in 2:08:44, bringing to six the number of times he has podiumed in as many starts here.

Canadian results to follow.