On a picturesque day, the Boston Marathon returned to Patriots’ Day for the first time in three years on Monday.
With a slight tailwind leading the marathoners from Hopkinton to Boston, runners took advantage of the weather to post fast speeds.
Kenya’s Evans Chebet posted his first World Marathon Majors victory, surging past last year’s champion Benson Kipruto as the men's champion. He is the third champion in a row from Kenya.
Chebet posted a time of two hours, six minutes and 51 seconds, marking the third-fastest Boston Marathon winning time in history.
On the women’s side, Peres Jepchirchir continued her stretch of titles, holding off Ababel Yeshaneh by four seconds. Jepchirchir, the 2020 Tokyo Games champion and winner of the 2021 New York Marathon, won with a time of two hours, 21 minutes and two seconds.
The final mile of the race between Jepchirchir and Yeshaneh featured a number of lead changes.
Chebet and Jepchirchir earn $150,000 for the win.
Chebet finished fourth at last year’s London Marathon. As the field of male runners began to break, Chebet surged 2019 Boston champion Lawrence Cherono, Kipruto, 2016 Boston champion Lemi Berhanu and former New York winner Albert Korir.
American CJ Albertson pushed the pace on the men’s side early in the race using the downhill stretches to extend the lead pack of runners. He ended up falling behind the pack, allowing Scott Fauble of Colorado to top all American runners with a time of two hours, eight minutes and 52 seconds. He finished seventh overall.
Nell Rojas led all American women with a time of two hours, 25 minutes and 57 seconds.
