Brigid Kosgei Smashes Tokyo Marathon Record
Kenya's Brigid Kosgei won the 2026 Tokyo Marathon with a new course record of 2:14:29 — finishing more than two minutes ahead of the field. The 32-year-old, who also won this race in 2021, continues her dominance in elite marathon running. Her performance underscores the ongoing progress in women's distance running on the global stage.
Kosgei's victory marks her first win in a major marathon in four years, signaling a powerful return to form after a period of battling injuries. Her time of 2:14:29 is the seventh-fastest in women's marathon history and the second-fastest of her career. This win gives Kosgei her second Tokyo Marathon title, the first being in the postponed 2021 event (held in 2022). She is one of only three women to have won the race twice. The new course record shatters the previous best of 2:15:55, set by Sutume Asefa Kebede in 2024. Kosgei ran with Kebede for the first 30 kilometers before pulling away to win by a significant margin. This victory adds to Kosgei's impressive record at the World Marathon Majors, which includes two wins at the Chicago Marathon (2018, 2019) and two at the London Marathon (2019, 2020). The 32-year-old Kenyan athlete is the former world record holder in the marathon, having set a time of 2:14:04 at the 2019 Chicago Marathon. She also won a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
