A repeat winner and a first-time champion
Chebet and Obiri win men's and women's titles in Boston Marathon
On a cool and rainy day when Evans Chebet defeated a field that included the man regarded as the GOAT, fellow Kenyan Hellen Obiri added to a resume that makes her one of the finest all-around female distance runners in history in the 127th edition of the Boston Marathon on Monday.
Chebet ran 2 hours 5 minutes 54 seconds to win his second consecutive men’s title in Boston and Obiri won the women’s race in a personal best of 2:21:38 while running in just her second marathon.
The 34-year-old Chebet had won both the Boston and New York City marathons last year, but he entered Monday’s race as a decided underdog to countryman Eliud Kipchoge, who had lowered his own world record to 2:01:09 in Berlin last September while having the title of the greatest men’s marathoner of all-time bestowed upon him.
Kipchoge, the two-time defending Olympic champion, owner of four of the six fastest times in history, and winner of 15 of his previous 17 marathons, looked like his normal smooth-striding self for the first 30 kilometers of the race. But the 38-year-old quickly fell off the pace about a minute later after Tanzanian record-holder Gabriel Geay picked up the pace. Kipchoge would finish sixth in 2:09:23, the slowest time of his illustrious career.
“I’m happy because I know this course very well,” Chebet told ESPN’s Sage Steele in a post-race interview. “Because I won last year and this year, so maybe I’ll come back again.”
Kipchoge had entered the Boston Marathon for the first time because it is one of only two World Marathon Major races he has not won.
He had previously won a combined 10 titles in World Marathon Major races in Berlin (4 times), London (4), Chicago (1), and Tokyo (1). But no one — man or woman — has ever won all six World Marathon Major events, which also include the Boston and New York City marathons.
As the man to beat, it was not surprising to see Kipchoge at — or near — the front of a 12-runner lead pack that came through 5 kilometers in 14:17, 10 kilometers in 28:52 (14:35), 15 kilometers in 43:56 (15:04), and 20 kilometers in 59:01 (15:05).
It was shortly after passing the halfway point in 1:02:19 that the usually calm Kipchoge seemed somewhat irritated as he appeared to motion his closest pursuers to share the front-running duties with him.
No one stepped forward to do so, but the lead pack had been reduced to 10 runners eight minutes later, and it was down to seven when it came through 25 kilometers in 1:14:04 and past 30 kilometers in 1:29:23.
It was at the 30-kilometer aid station that Kipchoge mishandled his bottle of pre-prepared fluids — never getting it off the table where it sat — and not long after that, Geay made his move that blew up the lead pack.
Chebet and training partner Benson Kipruto covered Geay’s surge and were a second ahead of him when they came through 35 kilometers in 1:44:19. John Korir of Kenya was five seconds behind them, with Kipchoge in eighth place, 73 seconds back.
Chebet and Geay appeared to have dropped Kipruto when they came through 24 miles in 1:55:03, but the three of them were back together when they passed 40 kilometers in 1:59:14.
Chebet and Kipruto then opened up a small lead over Geay before Chebet dropped Kipruto two hours and two minutes into the race.
His lead had grown to six seconds over second-place Geay a minute later and his final time of 2:05:54 left him 10 seconds ahead of Geay (2:06:04) and 12 up on Kipruto (2:06:06).
Albert Korir of Kenya placed fourth in 2:08:01, followed by Zouhair Talbi of Morrocco in 2:08:35, and Kipchoge in 2:09:23.
While the men’s elite race went out at a fairly quick pace, the women’s contest, which started 10 minutes after the men’s, began much more cautiously.
A large lead pack came through 5 kilometers in 17:48 and 10 kilometers in 34:46 (16:58).
The pack had been reduced to eight runners when it passed through 15 kilometers in 50:47 after a 16:01 split for the previous 5 kilometers. But it had grown to a dozen women when 20 kilometers was passed in 1:07:46 following a 5-kilometer segment in 16:59.
The lead group remained intact as it passed through the halfway point in 1:11:29, 25 kilometers in 1:24:39, and 30 kilometers in 1:41:49.
It was down to eight runners when the 35-kilometer (21.75 miles) mark was passed in 1:58:36 and it had been reduced to six at 23 miles in 2:05:13.
Ababel Teshaneh of Ethiopia, who had finished four seconds behind champion Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya in the Boston Marathon last year, fell to the pavement shortly after that as she had tripped while running too closely behind Obiri.
However, she regained her feet within seconds and was with Obiri, Lonah Salpeter of Israel, and fellow Ethiopian Amane Beriso when they went through 24 miles in 2:10:18. American Emma Bates, seventh in the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon last July, was a second behind at that point, but she had fallen four seconds back when the leading trio went through 40 kilometers in 2:14:44.
Something had to give at that point, and the 33-year-old Obiri stepped on the accelerator exactly two hours and 16 minutes into the race.
Salpeter and Teshaneh immediately fell back, But Beriso, who had slashed nearly six minutes from her personal best when she ran 2:14:58 to win the Valencia Marathon in Spain in early December, hung with Obiri.
However, she could not respond to another Obiri surge two minutes later as they ascended an uphill grade.
Obiri’s winning time of 2:21:38 was more than four minutes faster than she ran in finishing sixth in the New York City Marathon in November. The victory added to her list of accomplishments that include two World Championship titles in the 5,000, a World cross country title in 2019, and silver medals in the 5,000 in the Olympic Games in 2016 and ‘21, and in the 10,000 in the World Championships last year.
Beriso finished second in 2:21:50, followed by Salpeter in 2:21:57, Teshaneh in 2:22:00, and Bates in a personal best of 2:22:10.
Obiri’s win also validated her decision to enter the Boston Marathon less than a month ago.
Although she told Steele that she was surprised by her victory, she admitted she was well prepared for the race.
“I was feeling like my body was ready, and everything was ready,” she said. “I said to myself, I can do it.”
She added that a big key was following the advice of her coach, Dathan Ritzenhein, to be “patient, patient, patient,” and not push the pace too early in the race.