Lokedi turns back Obiri in Boston Marathon
Kenyan's 2:17:22 clocking crushes former course record of 2:19:59 set in 2014
Sharon Lokedi has yet to race on a flat and fast course during her six career marathons. Yet the 31-year-old Kenyan turned in an historically fast performance in the 129th edition of the Boston Marathon on Monday when she won the women’s title in a course record of 2 hours 17 minutes 22 seconds.
Lokedi’s time crushed the former course best of 2:19:59 set by Buzunesh Deba of Ethiopia in 2014 and it came after she broke away from compatriot and two-time defending champion Hellen Obiri with less than a mile left in the race.
Obiri finished second in 2:17:41, followed by Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia in 2:18:06.
Irine Cheptai of Kenya placed fourth in 2:21:32, followed by Amane Beriso of Ethiopia in 2:21:58.
“I feel great. I’m so excited and yay!,” Lokedi said in a interview on the FloTrack livestream.
She added that “It was a tough one out there. I’m just so glad that we had each other to fight all the way through... It was very good being with them and competing and fighting together... Towards the end. I was like, ‘just keep fighting. Just keep pushing.’ ”
After winning her debut marathon in New York City in 2022, Lokedi finished third behind Obiri and Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia in the 2023 race before placing second to Obiri in the Boston Marathon last year.
She then finished fourth in the Olympic Games in Paris last summer before placing ninth in the New York City Marathon in November.
In a tune-up race for Boston, she had run 1:07:04 in winning the New York City Half Marathon on March 16.
Beriso, the fourth-fastest women’s marathon runner in history with a best of 2:14:58, led a large lead pack through 10 kilometers in 32:51 on Monday before passing 15 kilometers in 49:10. However, the front group was down to five when Yehualaw led Obiri, Lokedi, Beriso and Cheptai through 20 kilometers in 1:05:04.
Lokedi was credited with being in the lead when that quintet passed the halfway point in 1:08:46 and they were still together when Beriso led them through 25 kilometers in 1:21:22. But Cheptai had fallen 12 seconds behind when the other four raced past the 30-kilometer mark in 1:37:40.
It had turned into a three-woman race for first place at 35 kilometers when Lokedi, Yehualaw, and Obiri came through that mark in 1:54:41, five seconds ahead of a fading Beriso.
That trio ran together for the next nine minutes, but Yehualaw appeared to be lacking confidence about her chances at winning when she glanced behind her at that point in the race. Three minutes later, she dropped back of Lokedi and Obiri.
Obiri was content to run a stride behind Lokedi for the next two and a half minutes and the two-time World 5,000-meter champion remained in that position, even after her compatriot motioned for her to run alongside her.
Obiri did attempt to make a break with a mile to go, but Lokedi covered her move and she had opened a small lead over Obiri about 70 seconds later. Her advantage was five seconds as she ascended an uphill grade a minute after that and it expanded all the way to the finish line as she ran her final mile in 5:04.
With the victory in hand, Lokedi pumped both of her fists skyward as she neared the finish line and she then shed tears of joy after she realized how fast she had run.
“I’m always, like, second to her,” Lokedi said of Obiri, “She’s like, a really good competitor and I love competing with her. And, you know, I’m just grateful that she got to push me all the way through.”
After the first five finishers, Calli Hauger-Thackery of Great Britain finished sixth in 2:22:38, followed by Americans Jess McClain in 2:22:43 and Annie Frisbie in 2:23:21.
Lokedi said she was unaware of the hot pace until she came through the halfway mark in 1:08:46.
“At the halfway, I saw that we ran 68 and I was like, ‘Oh Jesus.’ You know, we just kept going. I’m like, ‘I hope I still got it towards the end.’
“You can tell when you’re past halfway, so I was like, ‘Okay, I know we’re running fast. I know that for sure.’ And when I (crossed the finish line) and saw the time, I still can’t believe it.”
While Lokedi’s time crushed the course record and was more than five minutes faster that her 2:22:45 clocking in last year’s race, it will not be included on World Athletics’ all-time or yearly performance lists because the elevation between the start of the Boston Marathon in Hopkington and the finish in Copley Square in Boston drops a little more than 400 feet.
The Boston course is regarded as very challenging, as it includes four hills from mile 15 through 21. But the drop in elevation from the start to the finish makes it what is often referred to as an aided marathon, and any marks run on it are ineligible for record purposes.