Dramatic marathons as Evans Chebet and Hellen Obiri win but world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge finishes only sixth

It was a day of Kenyan dominance at the 127th Boston Marathon, although the best-known Kenyan of all, Eliud Kipchoge, finished only sixth in a men’s race won by Evans Chebet in 2:05:54 as Hellen Obiri captured the women’s crown in 2:21:38.

Whereas world record-holder Kipchoge attracted all the pre-race headlines, Chebet was always going to be a major contender on Monday (April 17). The 34-year-old won Boston and New York City marathons during a brilliant 2022 season and came into this week’s event with a title to defend.

Unusually, Chebet does not have much of a track background and has never raced in a major championships. Instead he focuses on big-city marathons, with great success.

In Boston 12 months ago he tucked in during the early stages before surging clear of his rivals in the final 10km and this year was similar although his rivals stubbornly stayed with him for a few miles before he finally shrugged them off. It was a tough day’s work for the man from the Cherang’any Hills in the western highlands of Kenya, although he is used to grafting. He began working as a farm labourer when he was just 10 years old and left school entirely aged 14 to start transporting maize from various farms to Eldoret.

He also has plenty of marathon experience as, among other things, he was fourth in London in 2021 and his best time of 2:03:00 was set in Valencia in 2020.

During the early stages, though, all eyes were on 38-year-old Kipchoge as he hovered toward the front of the leading group. As halfway was reached in 62:19, Kipchoge seemed to wave at his fellow runners, inviting them to take their turn at the front. At this stage there were 11 in the front group, too, including American hopes Conner Mantz and CJ Albertson.

As the group whittled down, the first big surprise of the race came after about 90 minutes of racing as Kipchoge suddenly fell off the back. At this stage Gabriel Geay of Tanzania looked particularly strong as he temporarily shot into the lead. Kipchoge, meanwhile, was clearly struggling in the cool and wet conditions.

Kipchoge rarely has bad days in the marathon office but he also struggled in London in 2020 when he suffered from an ear problem and the weather was cool and wet. Is this kind of weather his Achilles heel? Or is Father Time finally catching up with him? He only set the world record of 2:01:09 in September, of course.

“Today was a tough day for me,” he said. “I pushed myself as hard as I could but sometimes we have to accept that today isn’t the day to push the barrier to a greater height. In sports you win and lose and there is always tomorrow to set a new challenge.”

At around 21 miles Chebet surged clear. Or at least he tried to. Geay and Benson Kipruto proved difficult to shake off and they both kept rallying to stay with the reigning champion.

The section of rolling hills can be brutal at this stage but Chebet clocked the 22nd and largely downhill mile in a fast 4:37 as he continued to pile on the pressure. Finally, as the runners entered the last mile, Kipruto and Geay challenge faltered and Chebet charged clear to win by 10 seconds.

Runner-up Geay clocked 2:06:04 with Kipruto a close third in 2:06:06. Another Kenyan, Albert Korir, was fourth in 2:08:01 with Zouhair Talbi of Morocco fifth in 2:08:35 and Kipchoge grimly battling home in sixth in 2:09:23.

“I told my coach that training had gone well, so not to worry about me,” said Chebet. “To win here in 2022 and 2023 makes me very happy.”

Chebet trains with third-placed Kipruto and said: “I told Benson, ‘let’s go!’ He’s like my friend and brother.”

Scott Fauble was rewarded for running a patient first half of the race as he finished first American in 2:09:44. He had passed halfway around 1:40 behind the leaders but charged through strongly in the latter stages as Matt McDonald was 10th in 2:10:17, Mantz was 11th in 2:10:25 and Albertson 12th in 2:10:33.

Obiri’s victory in the women’s race put the cap on a tremendous career that has seen her win world titles and Olympic medals at 5000m, plus the world cross-country title. Last month she didn’t even think she was going to run a spring marathon either but had her arm twisted by her coach, Dathan Ritzenhein.

This was Obiri’s second marathon following a disappointing debut in New York last November when she placed sixth. Here she always looked in control before pulling away from a determined and sometimes borderline physical challenge from Amane Beriso of Ethiopia in the final mile.

Obiri, who ran negative splits with her first half in 71:29, finished 12 seconds ahead of Beriso with Lonah Salpeter of Israel third in 2:21:57 and Ababel Yeshaneh of Ethiopia recovering from a heavy fall in the final miles to finish fourth in 2:22:00.

Emma Bates was a revelation in fifth in 2:22:10. The American had led the race for a spell earlier on and held on strongly for a brilliant result. She took some great scalps too such as Gotytom Gebreslase – the Ethiopian world champion in 10th in 2:24:34 – and Joyciline Jepkosgei – the former London Marathon champion from Kenya who ran 2:24:44 in 12th.

“My coach tried to convince me (to run here) but my mind was somewhere else so I said ‘I don’t want to do Boston’,” said Obiri. “He told me he believed in me.

“I was still 50/50. But he reminded me I’d trained well and eventually I decided to do it. So I’m very happy. I can barely believe this.”

Marcel Hug was also in mild disbelief as he won the men’s wheelchair title for the sixth time in Boston by a whopping 10 minutes in a course record of 77:06.

The Swiss athlete said: “I feel exhausted but I’m so happy. It was difficult in these conditions with the rain but I was prepared for it. Everything went perfectly. I just tried to go as fast as possible to see what was possible in these conditions.”

Susannah Scaroni won the women’s wheelchair race despite an unplanned mid-race pitstop. “It was pretty emotional,” she said. “It was the noisiest I’d ever heard today crossing the line.”

Scaroni was forced to stop briefly to tighten up her right wheel. “Luckily I had an Allen key with me,” she said, after calmly dealing with the problem.

The incident summed up a day of drama on the streets of Boston.