Kenya’s Wilson Kipsang attempted to take back the world record in the marathon but fell short in his win at Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon in 2:03:58.

Dennis Kimetto’s world record of 2:02:57. which was set at the 2014 Berlin Marathon, remains safe. Kipsang previously held the world record before Kimetto when he ran 2:03:23 at the 2013 Berlin Marathon.

Kipsang stuck with the lead pack of runner, who ran a very aggressive pace from the start. The first five kilometers was clocked at 14:13 and the field would remain well under world record pace through the first 30 kilometers. From 30K to 35K, Kimetto dropped a 14:09 while Kipsang went backwards and ran 15:00.

Kipsang split 1:01:21 for the first half and then 1:02:36 for the second half. Kimetto negative split in his world record with 1:01:45 and 1:01:12

Here is a comparison of Kimetto and Kipsang’s splits:

Also, here is a graphical representation of the two men’s 5K splits in each respective race, showing Dennis Kimetto’s stronger second half:

Some other notes:

• The women’s race was won by Sarah Chepchirchir in a course-record of 2:19:47.
• Sara Hall dropped a big personal best of 2:28:26.
• Andrew Bumbalough made his marathon debut and ran 2:13:58.
• It’s pretty clear that Tokyo now could be considered a PR course after they made a few adjustments.

We’ll have more on Kipsang’s world record miss in the next few days.