John Korir, Sharon Lokedi Defend Boston Marathon Crowns
Kenyans John Korir and Sharon Lokedi took the wins at the 130th Boston Marathon on Monday, both defending their titles from 2025. Korir secured the win thanks to a blazing fast closing quarter, breaking the tape in a new course record of 2:01:52. Lokedi was unable to break her own course record, but still posted the second-fastest time in Boston Marathon history on her way to her 2:18:51 win. In the wheelchair races, Great Britain’s Eden Rainbow-Cooper grabbed her second title in Boston after her win in 2024, while Swiss legend Marcel Hug won for the ninth time at the storied race.
Korir’s Course Record
As is often the case at the world’s biggest marathons, there wasn’t too much separation in the opening miles of the men’s race on Monday. A group of 25 men cruised through the 5K checkpoint around 14:20. American CJ Albertson (the current 50K world record holder) led that pack, followed closely by Korir, his fellow Kenyan and former Boston Marathon champion Benson Kipruto (he won the race in 2021) and more big names.
A few miles later, at the 10 km checkpoint, that big group was still pretty much together. The leaders passed through 10 km in 29:02, averaging 4:40 per mile for the first quarter of the race. Six miles later, at the 20 km mark, the group of more than 20 men had dwindled to seven, and over the next mile, Ethiopia’s Lemi Berhanu (the 2016 champion in Boston) put in a surge to break away from his competitors. Berhanu passed halfway with a seven-second lead over the next-closest runners.
That gap didn’t last too long, as the chasers reeled Berhanu in. For a few minutes, the group remained together, but then it was Ethiopian Mikesa Mengesha’s turn to try for a breakaway. Mengesha (winner of the 2024 Berlin Marathon) did a better job than his compatriot while at the front of the race, opening up a gap of 12 seconds over the first chase group (which had shrunk to six men).
Mengesha ran solo for a little over three miles, steadily holding that 12-second gap, but then Kenya’s John Korir (the 2025 Boston Marathon champion) laid down an incredible surge, first catching and then blowing by his Ethiopian competitor. Over the course of a bit more than a mile, Korir had moved from 12 seconds back to six seconds ahead, and that gap only continued to grow for the rest of the race.
Korir flew along the course toward the finish line for the closing six miles, showing his experience after last year’s win. At 23 miles, he was 32 seconds ahead of Kipruto and Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu (who finished second to Korir last year in Boston), who were battling for second place. Further back, Mengesha had faded hard, dropping to more than 90 seconds behind the lead.
With a mile to go, Korir’s lead had grown to 45 seconds. Despite having no one nearby to push him, Korir still closed out the marathon at a blistering pace, rocketing to the finish line in 2:01:52 to shatter the previous course record of 2:03:02. Further back, the race for second was tight to the end, with Simbu ultimately getting the better of Kipruto to finish runner-up for the second straight year. He crossed the line in 2:02:47, three seconds ahead of Kipruto. All three podium finishers broke the course record.
The top American was Zouhair Talbi, who crossed the line in fifth place in 2:03:45.
Lokedi Goes Back to Back
Like the men’s race, there was a large group of women sharing the lead from the start, with 19 passing through 5 km together in 16:43. There were many Americans in the mix at that point, including Sara Hall and Emily Sisson. Also running comfortably in that group was the reigning champion in Boston, Sharon Lokedi, who ran a course record of 2:17:22 in 2025.
After six miles, those 19 women were still running in a tight pack, and over the next chunk of racing up to the half-marathon checkpoint, only a few women fell off the pace. There were many Americans still in that lead group, and while the crowds lining the course were cheering them on in the hopes of seeing the first home-soil champion since Des Linden’s win in 2018, it really felt like it was only a matter of time before Lokedi and her fellow Kenyan’s dropped the hammer.
Over the course of the next five miles, several more women dropped off the lead pace, leaving nine athletes running shoulder to shoulder. Jess McClain and Annie Frisbie were the lone Americans left in the hunt for the podium, as Hall and Sisson had faded outside the top 10.
Within the next couple of miles, any hope for an American win had disappeared, with McClain dropping to seventh place. Soon enough, it was clear that a Kenyan would win the race, with Lokedi leading the way alongside two-time World Cross-Country champion Irine Cheptai and Loice Chemnung.
In the end, Lokedi’s experience and grit made the difference. With a little over three miles to go, she gapped her compatriots and ran to the front of the race. With one mile to the line, she was 30 seconds clear of second place, and she broke the tape in 2:18:51.
Chemnung held on for second place (her biggest result to date) in 2:19:35. Although Cheptai had been in a great position to reach the podium with only a few miles to go, she slowed considerably near the end of the race and dropped to sixth, opening the door for Mary Ngugi-Cooper to slot into third and round out an all-Kenyan podium.
McClain finished in fifth place in 2:20:49, followed by three more American women in the top 10 (Frisbie, Sisson and Carrie Ellwood finished eighth, ninth and 10th).
Hug and Rainbow-Cooper Repeat
The first athletes across the line were in the wheelchair race. Hug entered the race as a top favourite, and he wasted no time showing spectators why. After six miles of racing, he had a minute over second place. At the half-marathon mark, he was three minutes clear of the next athlete.
That gap continued to grow and grow and grow until he finally hit the line, stopping the clock in 1:16:06 and finishing more than six minutes ahead of second-place Daniel Romanchuk of the U.S. (Romanchuk is the only athlete not named Marcel Hug to win the men’s wheelchair race in Boston in the past decade.) Third place went to Paralympic triathlon champion Jetze Plat of the Netherlands.
The women’s race was much closer than the men’s, but it could hardly be considered tight. Like Hug, Rainbow-Cooper jumped to an early lead and never looked back. Six miles into the race, she had a lead of 43 seconds over second-place Catherine Debrunner of Switzeralnd. Over the next 15 miles, that jumped up to a gap of more than a minute.
Rainbow-Cooper finished strong, boosting her lead to two minutes before breaking the tape in 1:30:51. Debrunner held on for second, followed by five-time Boston champion Tatyana McFadden, who was almost six minutes back in third.
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