Tanzania's Banuelia Mrashani knocked almost five minutes off her personal best to edge Japan's Rie Matsuoka for her first-ever victory in the Tokyo International Women's Marathon on Sunday.

Mrashani sprinted clear of Matsuoka just before entering Tokyo's National Stadium and won in 2 hours, 24 minutes, 59 seconds.

Matsuoka finished three seconds back in second and last year's runnerup Irina Timofeyeva of Russia was third in 2:26:45. The late withdrawal of Naoko Takahashi with a rib injury left the race wide open.