Kipsang, the London 2012 marathon bronze medallist, confirmed that he will go after the world record of 2 hours 02 mins 57secs.

When asked what is his target time, Kipsang stated 2:02:50.

“In the Berlin Marathon last fall, I went out too fast," he said.

"On Sunday, the plan is to run the first half in a more reasonable time.”

“My goal is to win all the Marathon Major races.

"I have won Berlin, London and New York, but not Tokyo. 

"So I decided to run Tokyo immediately after Berlin.”

Kipsang broke the world record in 2013 with 2:03:23.

He improved his personal best to 2:03:13 in Berlin last year to get within 0.16sec of the current world record of 2:02:57, set by Dennis Kimetto of Kenya at the 2014 Berlin Marathon.

Dickson Chumba, the 2014 Tokyo Marathon champion and Tsegaye Kebede, the Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medallist, are also both set to race in Tokyo. 

Ethiopia’s Tadese Tola and Kenya’s Bernard Koech are the other sub 2:05 runners in the field, but neither has run faster than 2:08 for nearly three years.

For Japanese runners, the race is one of the qualifying races for the 2017 World Championships marathon team.

Top domestic runners who will be vying for the coveted spots are Masato Imai, Hiroaki Sano, Koji Gokaya, Takuya Fukatsu, Yuki Takamiya and Yuma Hattori.

Kenya’s Betsy Saina will be making her marathon debut in the women's race in Tokyo, but expectations will be high after a stellar 2016 season which included a fifth-place finish in the 10,000 metres at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where she clocked a personal best of 30:07.78.

She went on to record a best of 1:07:22 to win the Great Scottish half marathon in just her second race over the distance.

Saina will face a trio of top Ethiopians, including 2015 Tokyo Marathon winner Berhane Dibaba.

The 23-year-old finished fifth in Tokyo last year and second in 2014, setting a lifetime best of 2:22:30.

Like Dibaba, Amane Gobena will also be returning to Tokyo alongside compatriot Amane Beriso, who recorded one of the fastest marathon debuts of all time when she finished second in Dubai last year in 2:20:48.

There is also a Para marathon tomorrow in the Japanese capital where competitors are also confident of setting a world record.

South Africa's Ernst Van Dyk is hopeful that the record set by Switzerland’s Heinz Frei in Oita in 1999 will be beaten.

Frei clocked a time of 1:20:14.

"Our current world record is very old and any opportunity to attempt a crack at it is a great one," the South African said.

"The race does come a bit early in the year and the weather can be very unpredictable.

"I really liked the added challenge of the climbs in the end as it was a tactical point, now it will surely come down to a mass sprint which is always a bit tricky.

"A fast race is always a good race."