All in the family

John Korir's win in Boston Marathon follow's brother's victory in 2012.

John Korir of Kenya won the men’s division of the Boston Marathon on Monday after overcoming a fall during the first minute of the race. [Photo © Kevin Morris]

---

Kenyan John Korir overcame a fall early in the race to make a bit of history when he won the men’s division of the 129th edition of the Boston Marathon on Monday.

When the 28-year-old Korir crossed the finish line in 2 hours 4 minutes 45 seconds, his victory came 13 years after his brother Wesley had won the 2012 race and made them the first sibling duo to have won Boston Marathon titles.

“I’m feeling good,” Korir said in an interview on the FloTrack livestream. “As I told you in the press conference on Friday, that I’m ready for Boston.”

Korir finished 19 seconds ahead of second-place Alphonce Felix Simbu of Tanzania and third-place Cybrian Kotut of Kenya, who were each credited with times of 2:05:04, and he was 23 seconds in front of fourth-place Connor Mantz of the U.S., who ran 2:05:08.

Korir started the race as the eighth-fastest marathon runner in history after winning the Chicago Marathon in 2:02:44 last October. But he fell to the pavement in the first minute or so of the men’s race after he was inadvertently clipped from behind. His bib came off during the mishap and he ran most of the race with it folded in the waist band of his shorts before he took it out as he approached the finish line unchallenged.

Mantz, who had finished eighth in the Olympic Games in Paris last summer, led a large lead pack through five kilometers in 14:20 before defending champion Sisay Lemma was in front when he came past 10 kilometers in 28:52 and 15 kilometers in 43:28.

Patrick Tiernan of Australia was in the lead when he passed 20 kilometers in 58:35 before Rory Linkletter of Canada was in front at the halfway mark in 1:01:52.

Mantz and Tiernan were then running at the front of what was still a large group as they went through 25 kilometers in 1:13:37 and 30 kilometers in 1:28:39, respectively. But just as he had done in Chicago, Korir took charge of the race during the seventh five-kilometer segment of the race.

He had a three-second lead an hour and 35 minutes into the contest and that gap had increased to 19 seconds over two-time World 5,000 champion Muktar Edris of Ethiopia, Kotut, Mantz, and Simbu when he went through 35 kilometers in 1:43:05.

His lead had grown to 59 seconds over Simbu, Kotut, and Mantz when he passed 40 kilometers in 1:57:24. And though he gave up much of that advantage during the final 2.2 kilometers of the race, some of that decrease was no doubt due to the fact that he had stepped off the accelerator while savoring his impending victory and Simbu, Kotut, and Mantz were waging a three-way battle for second place.

Simbu and Kotut broke away from Mantz in the last minute of the race before Simbu opened up a small lead over Kotut that he managed to maintain through the finish line.

After the first four finishers, Edris placed fifth in 2:05:59 in his debut marathon and he was followed by Linkletter in 2:07:02, American Clayton Young in 2:07:04, and Tebello Ramakongoana of Lesotho in 2:07:19.

Lemma did not finish after being in 10th place, two seconds out of the lead, at 25 kilometers.

Korir’s victory was his fourth in 12 career marathons. He won consecutive titles in the the Los Angeles Marathon in 2021 and ’22 before his win in Chicago last year.

He finished ninth in his first Boston Marathon in 2023 when he ran 2:10:04 and he was fourth in last year’s race in 2:07:40.

His time on Monday was the second-fastest winning effort in the history of the Boston Marathon, trailing only the course record of 2:03:02 set by Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai in 2011.

“You believe in yourself and you can make it,” John Korir said when he was asked about what advice his brother had given him before the race. “So today, I make it and we are happy… for the Korir family and to be two brothers here in Boston.”