An IAAF Gold Label Road Race, it was the fourth and final World Marathon Majors event to be held that year.

[3] Demonstrating the depth of the field, the men's race had thirteen runners in the pack by the halfway point (timing 1:02:54) – all of them Kenyan or Ethiopian.

By the time the two pacemakers (Shadrack Kosgei and Merkabu Birke) had dropped out around the 30 km mark, Tsegaye had assumed the head of the pack.

With one mile left, only Feyisa remained alongside Tsegaye, but the latter steadily pulled away in the final section of the race to win by a margin of fourteen seconds with a course record 2:04:38 hours.

Kabuu seized the lead after this point and by 30 km she had divided the pack in two, with Fatuma Sado, Caroline Rotich and Rita Jeptoo all five seconds ahead of Atsede, Shobukhova and Werknesh Kidane.