With both defending champs returning, and stacked fields behind them, could Boston records fall again?
With a forecast of temperatures in the 40s with a decent tailwind, could Mutai’s mark of 2 hours, 3 minutes, and 2 seconds finally fall? Could Lokedi lower her own record?
Korir, whose time of 2:04:45 was the third-fastest in race history, might have gone lower had he not been tripped at the start and run the last six miles unchallenged.
“I think if I had someone to push me last year, we would have been very close to the course record,” reckoned Korir, who posted a scorching 2:02:24 in Valencia in December. “If everything goes good this year, it is in my mind to go for it.”
Defending men’s winner John Korir wants to plant another kiss on the trophy Monday, but he’ll be challenged by seven of last year’s top-10 racers who are returning to the field.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
The reigning champ will have ample company, with seven of last year’s top-10 finishers in the fold — most notably Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu and Kenya’s CyBrian Kotut, who placed second and third.
“I’m going to run well, I hope that,” said Simbu, who finished 19 seconds behind Korir, and went on to win the world crown in Tokyo by three hundredths of a second over Germany’s Amanal Petros, the smallest margin in championships history.
The challenger to watch, though, is Kenya’s Benson Kipruto, the 2021 victor who since has won in Chicago and Tokyo, claimed the Olympic bronze medal in Paris, and captured New York last autumn. No other man ever has managed that.
“I’ve been running well in the USA,” said Kipruto, who’s making his first appearance here in three years. “It is like a second home.”
Besides his gilded resume, Kipruto brings priceless knowledge of Boston’s lumpy layout.
“Having won before and coming back, I would say it’s quite an advantage to know the course,” said Kipruto, who placed third here in 2022 and 2023. “To know where to attack, where to run smooth …”
Benson Kipruto, the 2021 victor who also finished third in 2022 and 2023, returns to Boston eying another triumph. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
Korir, who won Boston on his third try, received an invaluable how-to-win briefing from his brother, Wesley, the 2012 titlist. This time, he’ll have a target on his back.
“Everyone who comes here wants to win,” said Korir, who’s bidding to become only the second men’s champion to repeat since 2008 (Kenya’s Evans Chebet, 2022-23). “I know they are there and they will be looking for me, and that they will be trying to stop me from defending my title. But I’m ready.”
Lokedi wasn’t the favorite last year when she clocked 2:17:22 to demolish Buzunesh Deba’s course record by more than two and a half minutes. Countrywoman Hellen Obiri, who’d won here the two previous years, was the one to beat.
But Lokedi hung with her through the hills and outkicked her in the flats, winning by 19 seconds. Obiri will be running in London next Sunday, so Lokedi likely will dictate the pace — and her challengers will follow her lead, if they can.
“You have to run the race that is put out in front of you,” said Dakotah Popehn, the top US finisher at the Paris Games who’s part of the deepest domestic field in history. “I don’t have the luxury of running my own race at Boston. I do whatever Sharon is deciding to do that day.”
The defender figured she won’t depart much from her usual strategy.
“I am someone who always does the same thing over and over,” said Lokedi, who has five podium finishes in her seven career majors and won New York in 2022.
“I have not really changed much because I believe in consistency, and what works is what I’ve always been doing. So I just maintain that and compete as I always do, and always be aware of what is happening.”
Sharon Lokedi shattered the Boston course record in winning the women’s race last year. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
Lokedi wasn’t planning on barreling through Wellesley last year, but the leaders were, so she stuck with them. This time as last, she’ll deal with the race as it unfolds.
“It all depends on how it starts. But no matter how it goes, I’m ready to go with the pace,” Lokedi said. “If it’s meant to be a course record like last year, then I’ll go with it.”
Boston may be many things, but a drag race it’s not. Tactics matter greatly. Eliud Kipchoge, the planet’s greatest male marathoner, went out too fast into a headwind on a wet day three years ago and was out of contention before the hills.
“If I went to London, I know that I’m not going to run 2:16 and I’m not going to win,” said Popehn. “There’s that excitement that it’s anybody’s day in Boston. You don’t have to be the world’s fastest to win that race.”
Boston Marathon pro/elite men’s competitors press conference on Friday at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel. From left, defending wheelchair champion Marcel Hug, defending men’s champion John Korir, 2021 champion Benson Kipruto, Alphonce Simbu, Clayton Young, and Ryan Ford.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
John Powers can be reached at [email protected].
