Ethiopia's Mekkonnen wins Tokyo Marathon

Hailu Mekonnen of Ethiopia won the men's race of the Tokyo Marathon in two hours, seven minutes and 34 seconds on Sunday.

Mekonnen's time was 11 seconds off the race record set in 2008 by Viktor Rothlin. Kenyan Paul Biwott came second at 2:08:14.

Yuki Kawauchi was the highest Japanese finisher in third at 2:08:36.

Tatiana Aryasova of Russia won the women's race in 2:27:28. Noriko Higuchi of Japan came in second in her marathon debut at 2:28:48.

World marathon record holder Haile Gebrselassie withdrew from the race on Thursday after the Ethiopian bruised both knees in training recently.

The fifth running of the Tokyo Marathon drew a record 336,000 applications for 36,000 entries.

Source: Xinhua