Kipchoge, 37, whose world record of 2hr 1min 39sec was set in Berlin four years ago, will be making his competitive return in the country where he won his second Olympic gold medal last summer.

Kosgei, 28, who set her women’s world record of 2:14:04 three years ago in Chicago, collected silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games after being beaten to the line by compatriot Peres Jepchirchir.

Kipchoge, one of seven sub 2:05 men in action, is working towards his aim of winning all six of the Abbott World Marathon Majors races, having already won London four times, Berlin three times and Chicago once – leaving Boston, New York City and Tokyo on his wish list.

"It will be different (to the Olympic Games) because it will be colder, but it has not changed my training," Kipchoge told his NN Running Team.

"I’m preparing like I am for any other race, and I think I’m on the right track.

"My focus has been on Tokyo from the beginning of my training cycle, and I can say I am ready to race there.

"I am very excited to run in a country where running is a crucial part of the sport culture and looking forward to experience the Japanese excitement for running and the marathon in particular."

Amongst his rivals will be Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata, winner of the 2020 London Marathon in which Kipchoge placed eighth, suffering only his second defeat over a distance in which he has won 13 of his 15 races so far.

Also in contention will be Ethiopia’s world silver medallist Mosinet Geremew, fourth on the world marathon all-time list with the 2:02:55 he ran in London in 2019, and Kenya’s Amos Kipruto, who won world bronze in 2019 and has a best of 2:03:30 from 2020.

Other challengers include Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola, who earned 10,000 metres bronze at the Rio 2016 Games and world marathon silver in London in 2017.

Meanwhile Kosgei’s biggest challenge could come from her fellow Kenyan Angela Tanui, who won last year’s Amsterdam Marathon in 2:17:57, a time that places her 10th on the world all-time list.

Another one to watch is Ethiopia’s 27-year-old Gotytom Gebreslase, who won the Berlin Marathon last year in 2:20:09 on her debut at the distance, since which she has improved her half marathon best to 1:05:36 in Bahrain.

They will be joined on the start line by Japan’s Mao Ichiyama, who clocked 2:20:29 in Nagoya in 2020, and Hitomi Niiya, who won the first Tokyo Marathon in 2007.

Sarah Hall of the United States, runner-up at the 2020 London Marathon will seek to better her personal best of 2:20:32 set in Arizona that same year, bolstered by her 1:07:15 US half marathon record in Houston in January.