Tomorrow (January 2, 2026), the 102nd Tokyo–Hakone Round-Trip University Ekiden will get under way, and the participating schools’ provisional lineups have been published. To help viewers distinguish each team's runners during the live broadcast, the list compiled by Paoye has been color-coded to match this year’s team kits. Interestingly, based on past years, these initial lineups are full of smokescreens coaches use to mislead their rivals. We won't know which section each school's ace will run until 1 hour and 10 minutes before the race (the final deadline for substitutions). Among the current title contenders, many of the top runners are listed as reserves. For example: Aoyama Gakuin's Asahi Kuroda, Shota Iida and Hikaru Ogawara; Komazawa University's Keita Sato, Takuma Yamakawa, Shunsuke Kuwata and Haru Taninaka; Kokugakuin University's Rui Aoki, Goki Takayama and Hiromichi Nonaka; and Chuo University's Shunsuke Yoshii, among others. How do you think these title favourites will arrange their matchups?