Ethiopia’s Sisay Lemma and Kenya’s Hellen Obiri were victorious at the Boston Marathon, winning the World Athletics Platinum Label road race in 2:06:17 and 2:22:37 respectively.
For Sisay Lemma, it was a race of redemption, following two previous outings in the US city that ended in disappointment. His winning time is the fourth fastest in Boston history.
Obiri, meanwhile, successfully defended her title, notching up her third victory in a row in a World Marathon Majors race and leading a Kenyan sweep of the podium.
The two races played out in contrasting fashion; Lemma made an early break in the men’s race and built up a huge lead, eventually winning by 41 seconds. Conversely, in the women’s contest, the real racing began only in the final few miles with Obiri eventually finishing just eight seconds ahead of fellow Kenyan Sharon Lokedi.
By the time Lemma reached 20 miles (1:33:48), he had increased his lead to two minutes and 49 seconds and was still just about on schedule to break Geoffrey Mutai’s course record of 2:03:02 from 2011. But he had some of the toughest parts of the course to contend with.
He slogged his way up Heartbreak Hill in 5:28 but his lead was starting to reduce as Chebet, John Korir, Albert Korir and Mohamed Esa ran together up the steepest section of the race.
From that point onwards, the chasers continued to reduce Lemma’s leading margin. With two miles to go, though, Lemma still had a 90-second cushion over Chebet and John Korir, who were running side by side, both looking set to claim the other podium places.
Despite his pace continuing to slip, Lemma’s lead proved too much for his opponents and he went on to cross the line in 2:06:17. There was some excitement further back, though, as the strong-finishing Esa went from fifth at 23 miles to second by the finish line, claiming the runner-up spot in 2:06:58.
Chebet, the defending champion, this time finished third in 2:07:22 – his fourth consecutive podium finish in a marathon major.
“The reason I raced in Boston is because the course is similar to the Olympic one, so hopefully this will be good preparation for the Paris Games.”
