Kipchoge comes face to face with reigning champ Chebet at Boston marathon today

Eliud Kipchoge will look to add another feather to his cap with another major marathon win, while an incredibly deep women’s field will battle it out for glory at the Boston Marathon, this year’s sixth World Athletics Elite Platinum Label road race, set for today.

Kipchoge improved his own world marathon record to 2:01:09 the last time he raced. That performance was achieved in Berlin in September, four years on from the world record of 2:01:39 he ran in the same city. Now the Kenyan athletics great races the Boston Marathon for the first time, as he aims to take another step towards his goal of winning all six of the races in the World Marathon Majors series. So far he has won the London Marathon and Berlin Marathon four times each, and has also claimed victories in Tokyo and Chicago. That leaves Boston and New York City still to conquer.

Although the Boston event takes place on an undulating course, two-time Olympic champion Kipchoge is confident that his usual training lends itself to a hilly race. Victory may not come easy, however, as he faces a field featuring three former winners in Boston and a number of other major marathon champions.

Leading the contenders are defending champion Evans Chebet, 2021 winner Benson Kipruto and two-time victor Lelisa Desisa.

Kenya’s Chebet ran 2:06:51 to claim his Boston Marathon victory last year and then followed that with a New York City Marathon win in November, becoming just the sixth man to ever win the Boston and New York City marathons in the same year.

His compatriot and training partner Kipruto won the 2021 Boston Marathon in 2:09:51 and then placed third in the 2022 edition of the race before rebounding to win the Chicago Marathon in a PB of 2:04:24 last October.

Ethiopia’s Desisa has great experience of the Boston event as together with his wins in 2013 and 2015, he secured second-place finishes in 2016 and 2019. This year marks 10 years since his first victory, after which he donated his champion’s medal back to the City of Boston in recognition of the tragedy of 15 April 2013. The 2019 world marathon champion also won the New York City Marathon in 2018.

Joining them on the start line will be Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata, who won the London Marathon in 2020, when Kipchoge placed eighth after struggling with a blocked ear. He was also runner-up in New York in 2022 and 2018 and finished second behind Kipchoge in London in 2018.

Like Kitata, 2015 world champion Ghirmay Ghebreslassie will be making his Boston Marathon debut, while 2021 New York Marathon champion Albert Korir returns after a sixth-place finish last year.

In a field that features seven sub-2:05 runners, Tanzanian record-holder Gabriel Geay is the joint second-fastest behind Kipchoge, tied with Chebet after a 2:03:00 runner-up performance in Valencia last year, while Herpasa Negasa clocked his 2:03:40 PB in 2019.

Kenya’s two-time Boston Marathon winner Edna Kiplagat returns, as do Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh and Kenya’s Mary Ngugi who finished second and third, respectively, in Boston last year.

As well as her two Boston Marathon wins in 2017 and 2021, Kiplagat has also claimed two world marathon titles – in 2011 and 2013 – and won in New York in 2010 and London in 2014. Now aged 43, she remains highly competitive and finished fourth at last year’s Boston Marathon in 2:21:40 – 12 seconds faster than her winning time in Boston in 2017 – and also placed fourth in New York in November.

Yeshaneh finished a close second behind Peres Jepchirchir in Boston last year, clocking 2:21:05 to miss the title by just four seconds after an exciting head-to-head battle. Her CV also features a second-place finish in Chicago in 2019 and third place in New York in 2021.

Ngugi ran 2:21:32 for her place on the podium last year, repeating her finishing position from 2021.

Other returning champions are Ethiopia’s Atsede Baysa, who won in 2016 and finished eighth in 2021, and USA’s Desiree Linden, who won in 2018 and will be contesting her 10th Boston Marathon.

Kenya’s former world half marathon record-holder Joyciline Jepkosgei is also back in Boston after her seventh-place finish in 2022 and will be aiming to add another major marathon win to the New York and London titles she claimed in 2019 and 2021, respectively. After racing in Boston last year she finished second at the London Marathon in October.

Israel’s world marathon bronze medallist Lonah Salpeter placed second at the New York City Marathon last year and now races the Boston Marathon for the first time, as does Ethiopia’s Hiwot Gebremaryam. The field also features Kenya’s Angela Tanui and Viola Cheptoo.

Other US athletes joining Linden on the start line will be Sara Hall, Aliphine Tuliamuk and Emma Bates.