‘Memorable’ Boston Marathon plays out from start to finish

Speed: Sharon Lokedi of Kenya held off a late move by two-time defending champion Hellen Obiri to break the tape in 2:17:22, obliterating the course record of 2:19:59 set in 2014. Runner-up Obiri (2:17:41) and third-place finisher Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia (2:18:06) all finished under the old record.

Siblings: Kenya’s John Korir, whose brother Wesley won here in 2012, laid waste to a pack of six when he took off at 20 miles, winning in 2:04:45 – the second-fastest winning time in race history.

Sentiment: 2018 champion Des Linden, via Instagram and a full-page ad in the Boston Globe, announced on race morning that this would be her last professional marathon. The 41-year-old went on to finish in 2:26:19, her fastest time in eight years, to win the master’s division and finish 17th among all pro women.

The day began with a nod to the 250th anniversary of Patriots’ Day, as Paul Revere and the National Lancers proclaimed the runners were coming, making their way down course from Hopkinton. They were quickly followed by a legendary tandem serving as Grand Marshals, 1975 champions Bob Hall and Bill Rodgers.

Soon after, in the wheelchair races, Marcel Hug of Switzerland took an early lead over Daniel Romanchuk of the U.S., going on to cross the line in 1:21:34 for his eighth win here. Romanchuk, a two-time Boston champion, would finish second in 1:25:58, with Jetze Plat of the Netherlands third in 1:30:16.

Hug was pleased that his victory came on the 50th anniversary of Bob Hall becoming the race’s first official wheelchair finisher,

“One of my first racing chairs was a Hall chair,” said Hug, who over the weekend got to meet the pioneer who went on to design them.

For the women, American Susannah Scaroni fell behind Eden Rainbow-Cooper of Great Britain and Manuela Schär and Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland early, playing catch-up until Mile 5. The quartet worked together for about 10 miles until Scaroni – a strong climber – surged just before the Newton Hills to her second Boston victory, in 1:35:20. In her debut here, 2024 Paralympic gold medalist Debrunner was second, in 1:37:26, with four-time Boston champion Schär third in 1:39:18.

“There was that tiny bit of worry,” said Scaroni, about making up that early deficit. “I had to tell myself, ‘I can do this, I can do this.’”

Korir’s day almost ended in the early meters of the race, when he fell after being clipped from behind.

“What came to my mind was, should I stay down, or should I wake up and go? Something told me to wake up and go, and that everything would be OK,” he said.

After tucking his detached race bib – which included his precious timing chip – into his shorts, Korir stuck with the lead pack until turning on the turbos near the top of Heartbreak Hill to leave everyone trying to close the sudden gap behind.

“We planned that, with my coach and my brother and everyone in my crew,” said the 29-year-old, who last fall won the Bank of America Chicago Marathon but finished fourth and ninth here in his previous two attempts. “We said that at 20 miles I will try and make the move. And I tried, and it worked well.”

In that lead pack all the way was Conner Mantz, who helped blast the pack to a 4:32 first mile, setting the stage for a fast race. For his efforts, the man who broke the American record in the half marathon a few months ago came within one spot of the podium after a three-way sprint down Boylston against runner-up Alphonce Felix Simbu of Tanzania (2:05:04), third place CyBrian Kotut of Kenya (2:05:04).

Mantz’s time of 2:05:08 was the second-fastest time by an American in race history.

“Getting outkicked for the last 300 meters is a little bitter, but it was still probably my best race I’ve had. And so I was very happy about that.”

For Lokedi, it was a role reversal from last year, when Obiri went on to victory after making a decisive move with one mile to go. Obiri tried exactly the same thing this year, but Lokedi was ready, willing and able to fend her off.

“I was like, ‘I’m not going to let her take it today from me, so I just wanted to fight as hard as I could,” said the 31-year-old Kenyan, who won the 2022 TCS New York City Marathon in her debut at the distance. “I’m glad that we had to tough it out together.”

Finishing seventh as top American in 2:22:43 was Jess McClain, who just missed making Team USA for Paris when she ended up fourth at the Olympic Marathon Trials.

“Today, it felt like a win to me,” she said.

For Linden, competing for the 12th time here, “the crowd was behind me and it really felt incredible. I’ll probably be a mess of tears the rest of the day. But that run was everything. Thank you.”

The top non-binary finisher was Whit Blair, finishing in 2:22:47. A total of 28,928 athletes started the race. Preliminary finisher totals will be available on Tuesday.

In the Para Athletics Divisions, the following champions were crowned:

T11/T12 (Vision impairment) – Joyce Cron, 4:09:08 / Wajdi Boukhili, 2:25:12

T13 (Vision impairment) – Lisa Thompson, 3:42:01 / Andrew Thorsen, 2:47:57

T20 (Intellectual impairment) – Montana Whiteley, 3:51:43 / Thomas Cantara, 2:37:35

T35-T38 (Coordination impairment) – Cristina Burbach, 3:46:05 / Joseph Drake, 4:11:17

T45/T46 (Upper-limb impairment) – Lisa Maciel, 4:06:19 / Atsbha Gebremeskel, 2:57:11

T61/T63/T43 (Lower-limb impairment) – Meghan Bradshaw, 3:58:15 / Richard Whitehead, 2:56:09

T62/T64; T42/T44 (Lower-limb impairment) – Kelly Bruno, 3:17:56 / Marko Cheseto Lemtukei, 2:46:24