Benson Kipruto tries to defend Tokyo Marathon title

Paris 2024 Olympic marathon bronze medalist Benson Kipruto will try to defend his Tokyo Marathon title in this year’s race on the streets of Japan on March 2. The 33-year-old Kenyan runner won the 2024 edition in 2:02:16 hours. Timothy Kiplagat (2:02:55 hours) and Vincent Kipkemboi (2:04:18 hours) finished second and third, respectively.

In Tokyo, Benson Kipruto will face Olympic 10,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda), who will be running his second marathon.

Benson Kipruto won the Olympic marathon bronze medal in 2:07:00 hours. He was beaten in the Japanese capital by Ethiopian athlete Tamirat Tola (2:06:26 hours) and Belgium’s runner Bashir Abdi (2:06:47).

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. Benson Kipruto 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, he 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. Benson Kipruto won the 2018 Toronto Waterfront Marathon (2:07:24 hours) and the 2021 Prague Marathon (2:10:16 hours).