Beppu-Ōita Marathon
Maeda came third at the 2011 Beppu-Ōita Marathon as the first Japanese home on the 60th anniversary of the race and improved his personal best time to 2:10:29 hours. He was the third Japanese runner to finish at the Fukuoka Marathon later that year, coming sixth overall. A personal best time of 2:08:38 hours came at the 2012 Tokyo Marathon, where his sixth-place finish (the second Japanese home) improved his Olympic selection chances. Ultimately he was not selected for the Olympics and he ran at that year's Amsterdam Marathon instead, although he only managed 15th place.