Arab News

TOKYO:Tokyo 2020 Marathon was mini this year with both limited audience and runners as the Japanese government is downsizing all gatherings to contain the spread of coronovirus.

Sparse atmosphere in the Marunouchi district between Tokyo station and the imperial palace, for the edition of the , a crowd of about 72,000 passers-by scattered around the course of the race wearing  masks and encouraging the participants.

Ethiopian Birhanu Legese finished first, claiming the title for the second year, in two hours 4 minutes and 15 seconds, Belgian Abdi ended up overtaking Ethiopian Lemma after 42 kilometers and finished second with a score of  two hours 4 minutes and 49 seconds while the Ethiopian Sisay Lemma finished third with a time of two hours 4 minutes and 51 seconds.

Japanese hopeful, Suguru Osako, broke the Japanese national record by finishing fourth with a time of two hours 5 minutes and 29 seconds and will have a chance of being qualified for the Olympic Games.

Last year saw 690,000 spectators attending the marathon reduced to about 70,000 in sparse groups to this year. Runners also had to be reduced to 200 elite marathoners including wheelchair athletes. make the event best manageable.

This disappointed more than 20 thousand runners, selected usually by lottery. Some of those had to watch this long awaited competition from the sidelines.