Kipruto and Kipyogei do it in style

Kenya’s Benson Kipruto won the men’s race while Diana Kipyogei led a Kenyan sweep of the women’s podium in the Boston Marathon on Monday, each winning their first-ever major title.

Nitendra 31st

India’s Nitendra Singh Rawat finished 31th in a time of 2:22.01s. He was the runner-up in the New Delhi Marathon in March.

American C.J. Albertson set an aggressive early pace to lead the men’s field by two minutes and 13 seconds through the first half but saw his headstart disintegrate over hilly terrain after the 20-mile mark, as a tight pack overtook him.

Kipruto, who won the Prague Marathon in May, pulled away with less than 10km to go and had secured a commanding 41-second lead heading into the last mile, absorbing the cheers along Boylston Street as he broke the tape in two hours, nine minutes and 51 seconds. Ethiopians Lemi Berhanu and Jemal Yimer finished second and third.

In the women’s race, a crowded pack stuck together through the first 25km before Kipyogei, who won the Istanbul Marathon in 2020, made her move, securing a 10-second lead over the rest of the field by the 30km mark.

Challenge

Ethiopia’s Netsanet Gudeta quickly challenged her but Kipyogei proved too powerful, again pulling away to win the race in two hours, 24 minutes and 45 seconds. Edna Kiplagat, who won in 2017, and Mary Ngugi, both from Kenya, finished second and third.

Swiss athletes won the men’s and women’s wheelchair events, with Paralympic champion Marcel Hug claiming his fifth title in Boston in 1:18:11 despite missing a turn in the final moments of the race, an error he told officials may have cost him 20 seconds.

Manuela Schar clinched her third Boston Marathon win in 1:35:21.