Organisers were forced to cancel the public mass participation event, with only the elite races and wheelchair competitions going ahead in the Japanese capital.

Legese earned an impressive victory in the men’s event, which saw the top nine runners finish in less than 2 hours 7min.

The Ethiopian runner pulled clear of his nearest rivals to earn victory in a time of 2:04:15.

The mark was 33 seconds faster than his winning time last year at the event, one of the six Abbott World Marathon Majors.

Belgium’s Bashir Abdi finished as the runner-up, with the Somalia-born runner improving his national record to 2:04:49.

Ethiopia’s Sisay Lemma finished two seconds adrift of Abdi to round off the podium places.

Osako Suguru finished fourth in a Japanese-record time of 2:05.29, which appears to have sealed his place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Osako is now expected to join Shogo Nakamura and Yuta Hattori as Japan’s representatives in Sapporo, where the Olympic marathon races were relocated last year.

Israel's Lonah Chemtai Salpeter lowered the Tokyo Marathon course record in the women’s event.

The Kenyan-born runner triumphed in a time of 2:17:45.

Ethiopia’s Birhane Dibaba finished 50 seconds adrift of the winner to end as the runner-up.

Sutume Asefa Kebede completed the top three, with the Ethiopian runner crossing the line in 2:20.30.