Defending champion John Korir shattered the Boston Marathon course record, riding a tailwind to outrun the strongest field in the race's history and win in 2 hours, 1 minute, 52 seconds, one of the fastest marathons ever run. Sharon Lokedi joined her fellow Kenyan as a back-to-back champion, winning the women's race in 2:18:51.
Korir and his brother Wesley, the 2012 champion, are the only relatives ever to win the race. This time, John Korir broke away from the pack as it headed into Heartbreak Hill, the race's most famous climb, and opened a 40-second lead. With a mile to go, he glanced behind him. Then he stuck out his tongue and spread his arms as he ran toward the finish, beating the old course record of 2:03:02, set by Geoffrey Mutai in 2011, by 70 seconds.
He wasn't the only one to run fast. Alphonce Felix Simbu of Tanzania and 2021 champion Benson Kipruto also finished under the old record. Zouhair Talbi and Jess McClain ran some of the fastest times ever by American runners in the men's and women's races.
Lokedi, who had set the women's course record in her first win, took the lead as the runners entered the hills and came out of them with a growing lead. The morning had started just above freezing but warmed to 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius). Lokedi pulled off her gloves and smiled her way to the finish.
Korir and Lokedi each won $150,000 and a gilded olive wreath sent from Marathon, Greece, the town that gave the marathon its name. Korir received another $50,000 for the course record.
In the wheelchair races, Marcel Hug of Switzerland won his ninth Boston title in 1:16:06, and Eden Rainbow-Cooper of Britain won her second, finishing in 1:30:51.
The athletes had arrived at the starting line with frost on the ground. But clear skies and a slight tailwind gave the fastest field ever assembled at the world's oldest annual marathon a real shot at fast times.