Sydney Olympic medal winners Eric Wainaina of Kenya and Tesfaye Tola of Ethiopia head a field of world champion hopefuls at the Tokyo International Marathon on Feb. 18, the Japan Amateur Athletic Federation said Tuesday.
Japan's top entries in the out-and-back race from National Stadium in Tokyo will be Tomonori Watanabe with a personal best time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 40 seconds, along with Japanese half-marathon record holder Kenichi Takahashi.
The 42.195-km race will double as a JAAF selection meet for Japan's marathon team at the athletics world championships in Edmonton, Alberta, this August.
It will be a tall order for the Japanese runners in the Tokyo race, going up against Olympic silver medalist Wainaina and bronze medal winner Tola.
In addition to the Sydney medalists, the field will also include Ethiopia's Tesfaye Jifar, with a best time of 2:06:49, and Joseph Chebet of Kenya, who won the New York and Boston marathons two years ago.
The JAAF has already given tentative approval to Atsushi Fujita and Takayuki Nishida for the national team berths.