The 2026 Osaka Marathon will take place during this year’s Spring Festival (February 22, 2026). Five Chinese elite athletes — Wu Xiangdong, Jia Erenjia, Chen Tianyu, Gao Peng and Zheng Xiaoqian — will be competing in the race. Wu Xiangdong, Jia Erenjia and Chen Tianyu are already familiar with this event; all three have raced in Osaka before, and for Wu Xiangdong in particular, Osaka has been a lucky course where he set his PB. Gao Peng and Zheng Xiaoqian will be making their Osaka debuts; late last year Gao impressed at the National Games and Zheng delivered a strong performance at the Nanjing Marathon, so their showings in Osaka are worth watching. In recent years Chinese athletes have produced a number of strong results in Osaka. How these five will perform — and whether any will set new PBs — remains to be seen. On the Japanese side the field is led by Kyohei Hosoya (PB 2:05:58) and Kiyoto Hirabayashi (PB 2:06:18). Among the invited athletes there are six men in the SUB 2:06 category, including two Japanese runners — Kyohei Hosoya and Kenya Sonota (PB 2:05:59) — while the fastest PB belongs to Ethiopia’s Bute Gemechu (PB 2:04:51). On the women’s side there are four SUB 2:23 athletes, led by Ethiopia’s Mare Dibaba (PB 2:19:52). Will you be running the Osaka Marathon this year? What impression does the Osaka Marathon hold for you? Who are you backing at this year’s race? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. #TrailRunningExplosion #marathon #OsakaMarathon #running