Kenya's Hellen Obiri Wins Second Boston Marathon In A Row

Kenyan athlete, Hellen Obiri, is the winner of the 2024 Boston Marathon.

Obiri on Monday, April 15 successfully defended her Boston Marathon title, crossing the finish line at a time of 2:22.37. She is the first woman to win back-to-back titles since Catherine Ndereba who did it in 2004 and 2005.

The 34-year-old led a Kenya 1-2-3 sweep with Sharon Lokedi and Edna Kiplagat clinching the second and third positions respectively.

Hellen Obiri in action during the 2024 Boston Marathon on April 15, 2024. /SPRINGBAK INC.

She prevailed by eight seconds over Lokedi, the 2022 New York City Marathon winner. Kiplagat, a 44-year-old Kenyan and two-time Boston winner, was third.

Obiri, who won the last two Olympic 5000m silver medals, moved up to the marathon in 2022 and has now won three major titles -- Boston twice, plus New York City last November.

Unlike the men’s race where Ethiopian Sisay Lemma took off early and never looked back, the women stayed together for most of the race until when it mattered most.

Obiri, Lokedi and Kiplagat would exchange leads but stayed close to each other in the final stretch. The 44-year-old Kiplagat appeared set to pull an upset, and perhaps win her third title in Boston, but she ran out of steam when Obiri and Lokedi pulled away.

Obiri then waited until the business end to sprint away from Lokedi to win her second straight title in a time of 2:22:37 and defend her crown.

Obiri became the sixth woman to make it back-to-back titles in Boston in what is now becoming her favourite course after her maiden marathon victory last year.

The New York Marathon champion has effectively sealed her place in Team Kenya at the Paris Olympics after being named in the final team of six over a week ago.

In the men's edition, Evans Chebet’s dream of becoming the first man since Robert Cheruiyot in 2008 to win the Boston Marathon three times in a row was shattered, as the defending champion settled for third place, clocking 2:07:22.

Boston Marathon History

Boston Marathon remains the oldest marathon in the United States (US) and the second oldest in the world, after Osaka-Lake Biwa Marathon, with the 2024 race being its 128th edition.

The men’s race was previously a preserve of Americans, who won it 45 times from 1897 to 1988, with Canadians, Europeans and Asians claiming the other titles until Africans took over.

The first African man to win it was Kenya’s Ibrahim Hussein, who clocked 2:08:43 in 1988, and it seems to have opened the door for his country to dominate the race.

Since then, 25 of the 35 titles have gone to Kenya men, including 10 straight from 1992-2000, while runners from the East African nation have also won five of the last six, among them titles from 2019 to 2023.

Sisay Lemma wins the 2024 Boston Marathon. /CITIUS MAG

For the women's edition, it was run much later in 1966 as Americans claimed the first nine crowns followed by six more from 1975-1985. There were winners from Canada, Germany, Norway, Portugal, New Zealand and Russia until 1997 when Africans took over.

That was Ethiopian Fatuma Roba, who won three straight from 1997-1999, before Kenyan legend Catherine ‘The Great’ Ndereba won two of her four Boston crowns back-to-back in 2000 and 2001, handing the mantle to compatriot Margaret Okayo, with Russian Svetlana Zakharova winning it 2003, after which Ndereba won again in 2004 and 2005.

Since then, Kenyan women have won 10 of the last 17, including the last three. Over that period, Two Kenyan women have won it twice; Edna Kiplagat (2017 and 2021) and Rita Jeptoo (2006 and 2013), although she was stripped of her second title due to a doping offence.