John Korir breaks Boston Marathon course record as Kenyans retain titles | Boston Marathon
Kenyans had joy at the Boston Marathon for the second year in a row as Sharon Lokedi and John Korir retained their titles.
Korir broke the Boston Marathon course record in the men’s race, riding a tailwind to overtake the strongest field in the event’s history in a time of 2:1:52 – the fifth fastest marathon ever.
Lokedi joined her fellow Kenyan as back-to-back champions, winning the women’s race in 2:18:51. Zouhair Talbi and Jess McClain posted the fastest times ever recorded by Americans, for men and women, respectively.
A year after joining his brother Wesley, the 2012 champion, as the only relative to win the race, John Korir broke away from the pack as he headed up Heartbreak Hill in Newton and opened up a 40-second lead. He glanced behind him as he crossed Kenmore Square with a mile to go, sticking out his tongue and spreading his arms as he ran down Boylston Street to beat the previous course record of 2:03:02 set by Geoffrey Mutai in 2011 by 70 seconds.
Kelvin Kiptum holds the marathon world record, with a time of 2:00:35 on the flatter Chicago course in 2023.
Tanzanian Alphonce Felix Simbu, 55 seconds behind, and 2021 champion Benson Kipruto, another three seconds behind him, were also fast enough to better Boston’s previous record. Talbi, who competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics for Morocco and became a U.S. citizen last year, finished fifth in 2:03:45.
Lokedi, who broke the women’s course record last year by more than two minutes, took the lead entering Newton Hills and emerged with a growing lead. On a day that started around freezing but warmed to 45F (7C) early on, Lokedi took off her gloves as she walked through Coolidge Corner in Brookline and smiled as she walked down Boylston Street. Loice Chemnung was second, 44 seconds behind, followed by Mary Ngugi-Cooper in third. McClain finished fifth.
Korir and Lokedi each won $150,000 and a golden olive wreath sent from the plains of Marathon, Greece. Korir will receive an additional $50,000 for the course package.
Switzerland’s Marcel Hug won his ninth wheelchair title in 1:16:06, missing his own course record by 33 seconds. He is one length away from the all-category record of South African wheelchair athlete Ernst Van Dyk’s 10 victories at the Boston Marathon.
In the women’s wheelchair race, Great Britain’s Eden Rainbow-Cooper won her second title in Boston, finishing in 1:30:51 to beat runner-up Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland by more than two minutes.
Monday’s clear skies and slight tailwind gave the fastest peloton in the 130-year history of the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon a hope for fast times for the second year in a row. Lokedi broke the women’s course record last year and Korir ran the third-fastest time in Boston history in that race.
Runners may have noticed some changes this year as the race shifted to a scientific crowd to avoid traffic jams on the narrow streets along the route. At the start is a new statue of marathon pioneer Bobbi Gibb – the first statue on the course honoring a woman.
