Kenyan duo Sharon Lokedi and John Kipkosgei Korir notched up their second US-based World Marathon Majors victories, winning at the Boston Marathon – a World Athletics Platinum Label road race – on Monday (21).
Lokedi won in 2:17:22, taking two minutes and 37 seconds off the course record that had stood for 11 years. Hellen Obiri, the winner in Boston for the past two years, was second in 2:17:41 while Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw was third in 2:18:06.
Korir, meanwhile, took the men’s title in 2:04:45, the second-fastest winning time ever achieved in Boston. The 2024 Chicago Marathon champion finished comfortably ahead of Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu and Kenya’s Cybrian Kotut, who both clocked 2:05:04.
The women’s course record was under threat from the outset as a group of 15 women – including Lokedi, Obiri, Yehualaw, world champion Amane Beriso and Irine Cheptai – ran together through 10km in 32:51.
The pace then increased and the lead group was whittled down quickly to just five women – Yehualaw, Obiri, Lokedi, Beriso and Cheptai – as 20km was reached in 1:05:04, giving them a predicted finish time of 2:17:17.
After passing through the half-way stage in 1:08:46, Beriso started to force the pace. By 17 miles, Cheptai’s challenge started to fade, leaving four women out in front. The lead quartet reached 20 miles – the infamous Heartbreak Hill section – in 1:45:08, now 22 seconds ahead of Cheptai with a chase pack of five women some three minutes adrift of the leaders.
Beriso was the next to fall behind and it soon became clear the podium would comprise Obiri, Lokedi and Yehualaw. The latter started to fade with about two miles to go, leaving Kenyan duo Obiri and Lokedi to battle it out for victory.
Lokedi – who placed second in Boston last year and fourth at the Olympic Games in Paris, both times finishing just behind Obiri – dug deep in the closing stages and pulled clear of her domestic rival with one kilometre to go.
She extended her lead and crossed the finish line in 2:17:22, smashing the course record and clocking her fastest marathon to date (though it won’t count for PB purposes as the Boston course isn’t record eligible). Obiri finished in 2:17:41, also her fastest ever time in a marathon, while Yehualaw followed 25 seconds later.
“It feels so good, so great. I can’t believe it, I’m so excited,” said Lokedi, who won the 2022 New York Marathon on her debut at the distance. “We went through half way in 68 minutes and I thought ‘that’s so fast’, but we hadn’t got to the hills yet. We just kept the pace honest, but I was worried we were going too fast.
“I have finished behind Hellen so many times, but this time I told myself it wasn’t going to happen again. I fought and wanted it so bad. I loved every part of this race.”
The men’s race played out quite differently in the latter stages. A large lead pack of about 20 men ran together through the first 10km in 28:52, putting them on course for a sub-2:02 finish. Defending champion Sisay Lemma was part of that group, along with Korir, two-time world 5000m champion Muktar Edris, Kenya’s Cybrian Kotut, USA’s Conner Mantz, Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu and Australia’s Patrick Tiernan.
The pack had been reduced slightly to 16 men by the half-way stage, reached in 1:01:52 with the predicted finishing time having now slipped some way outside the course record pace.
About four miles later, Lemma – the fourth-fastest man in history and one of the big pre-race favourites – stopped and withdrew from the race. Mantz, meanwhile, continued to lead a 13-man pack through 30km in 1:28:39.
Little more than a mile later, Korir made his presence known and started to force the pace. Within the space of a few minutes, he had blown apart the lead pack and forged a lead of almost 20 seconds, reaching 21 miles in 1:39:40.
With about five kilometres to go, Korir was out in front with victory in his sights while Kotut, Edris, Simbu and Mantz followed about 40 seconds behind. Edris, who was making his marathon debut, drifted off the chase pack in the closing stages, leaving Kotut, Mantz and Simbu to battle it out for second and third place.
Korir, however, could not be caught and he charged through the finish line in 2:04:45, emulating his older brother Wesley who won in Boston 13 years prior. Simbu came through to take second place in 2:05:04, just ahead of Kotut, who was given the same time in third place. Mantz finished fourth in 2:05:08 while Edris held on for fifth in 2:05:59.
“I was aiming to win Boston and I had promised my brother that I was going to win,” said Korir.
With five inside 2:06, nine inside 2:08 and 12 inside 2:09, it was the deepest men’s race in Boston Marathon history.
Leading results
Women
1 Sharon Lokedi (KEN) 2:17:22
2 Hellen Obiri (KEN) 2:17:41
3 Yalemzerf Yehualaw (ETH) 2:18:06
4 Irine Cheptai (KEN) 2:21:32
5 Amane Beriso (ETH) 2:21:58
6 Calli Thackery (GBR) 2:22:38
7 Jess McClain (USA) 2:22:43
8 Annie Frisbie (USA) 2:23:21
9 Stacy Ndiwa (KEN) 2:23:29
10 Tsige Haileslase (ETH) 2:23:43
Men
1 John Kipkosgei Korir (KEN) 2:04:45
2 Alphonce Felix Simbu (TAN) 2:05:04
3 Cybrian Kotut (KEN) 2:05:04
4 Conner Mantz (USA) 2:05:08
5 Muktar Edris (ETH) 2:05:59
6 Rory Linkletter (CAN) 2:07:02
7 Clayton Young (USA) 2:07:04
8 Tebello Ramakongoana (LES) 2:07:19
9 Daniel Mateiko (KEN) 2:07:52
10 Ryan Ford (USA) 2:08:00
@world athletics
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