Benson Kipruto prepares to defend his Tokyo Marathon title

Olympic marathon bronze medalist Benson Kipruto has revealed his plans to defend his Tokyo Marathon title in 2025. Next year’s race is set for Sunday (March 2) and Benson Kipruto has been working around the clock to ensure he is ready for the challenge.

At this year’s Tokyo Marathon, Benson Kipruto celebrated his victory alongside former world record holder Eliud Kipchoge.

Eliud Kipchoge finished in tenth place after winning the 2022 edition.

“I’m preparing for next year’s marathon, the first marathon of the year, the one in Tokyo. I’m preparing to go and defend my title. I hold the course record this year and next year I’ll try to run a fast time and break the course record again”, said Benson Kipruto in an interview.

Benson Kipruto won the 125th Boston Marathon in 2021 (2:09:51 hours), the 2022 Chicago Marathon (2:04:24 hours) and the 2024 Tokyo Marathon in a personal best of 2:02:16 hours, where he also set a new course record. He finished third at both the 2022 and 2023 Boston Marathon with times of 2:07:27 hours and 2:06:06 hours, respectively.

In 2023, Benson Kipruto finished second in the 2023 Chicago Marathon, with a personal best time of 2:04:02 hours, 3 minutes behind compatriot Kelvin Kiptum who broke the Marathon world record.