Kobe Marathon 2026 results: Sato breaks 2:10 and Chelangat wins on debut

A wet race day and a moment of remembrance

Runners gathered in the rain outside Kobe City Hall before making their way to Harborland. The pre-start remembrance marked the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake of 1995. Around 20,000 runners took part, according to local reporting. Yellow gloves were part of the ceremony, a visible thread between the race and the city's recovery.

Koki Sato became the first Japanese men's winner since 2015. The provisional Runnet leaderboard separates his net time of 2:09:45 from his gross time of 2:09:46. Barnaba Kipkoech was eight seconds back on gross time, with Daniel Nghidinwa Paulus third.

Cherangat wins on debut and Tsubokura improves her best

Annet Chemengich Chelangat of Uganda won on her marathon debut. Kotomi Tsubokura was the leading Japanese woman and third overall, running a reported personal best of 2:28:31. Japan's Monthly Athletics reported that Tsubokura and Sato both fell short of the time standards for automatic Marathon Grand Championship qualification through this race.

The timing page describes its live positions as provisional. The men's gross times are given here alongside the women's times reported by Japanese racing media.

Results sources and photo credits

Sources: Kobe Marathon organiser race-day bulletin · Runnet provisional timing · Monthly Athletics race report · Sun TV Kobe race-day and remembrance report · Photo credit and original · CC BY 2.5 image licence