Kenyans Korir, Lokedi win Boston Marathon titles
Kenyan pair John Korir and Sharon Lokedi won the men and women’s Boston Marathon titles on Monday with dominant performances.
The men’s race appeared decided with 10 kilometers to go after Korir, who is also the 2024 Chicago winner, established a one-minute lead for himself.
He held that advantage comfortably and won in 2:04:45, ahead of Tanzanian Alphonce Simbu (2:05:04) and the Kenyan Cybrian Kotut who was third in (2:05:04).
There was a cherry on top of Korir’s victory as he became a part of the only two siblings to have won the Boston Marathon.
The other is his older brother, Wesley, who won in 2012 and who was on hand at the finish line to offer a congratulatory embrace.
The women’s affair was a closer contest as Lokedi and Hellen Obiri fought out a a tense battle, ultimately won by the 2022 New York winner.
Lokedi crossed the line in 2:17:22 to wipe two minutes and 37 seconds off the course record that had stood for 11 years.
Obiri was 19 seconds slower and Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw (2:18:06) finished in third.
That result denied Obiri a third straight title in Boston, a feat only last accomplished by a woman in 1999.
