Defending Boston Marathon champions Hellen Obiri and Sisay Lemma will have plenty of runners hot on their heels Monday
Sisay Lemma, who halted Kenya's four-year streak last April with his runaway triumph, will be going after a distinction of his own. No Ethiopian men's champion ever has repeated. 'I'll be very, very, very happy,' he said. 'It will be exciting.'
Lemma's victory here by 41 seconds over countryman Mohamed Esa earned him what he wanted, a ticket to Paris. But after a hamstring injury hobbled him a fortnight before the Games, Lemma conceded his place to Tamirat Tola, who went on to win the gold medal.
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Still, his Boston victory, the first by an Ethiopian in eight years and only the seventh ever, was a breakthrough for Lemma, who'd dropped out of two of his previous three efforts here and finished 30th in the other.
'I might not run like last year, ahead of everybody,' said the 34-year-old Lemma, who was 10th at the Valencia Marathon in December after dealing with knee pain following his hamstring problem. 'But I am hoping I will win.'
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No Ethiopian man ever has repeated as Boston Marathon champion, something Sisay Lemma hopes to change on Monday.
Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
In Kenya's Evans Chebet (2:03:00) and John Korir (2:02:44), Lemma (2:01:48) will be challenged by two of the men who pursued him last time.
Chebet had won the two previous races, dropping the pack at Heartbreak Hill to prevail by half a minute in 2022, and dashing away in the final mile two years ago.
Last year, slowed by an undiagnosed stress fracture, he lost contact with Lemma well before the hills and finished third, more than a minute off the pace.
Chebet rebounded to finish second in New York in November for his fifth consecutive podium placement there and here. 'I'm going to use my experience to get the win,' he said.
Korir, who placed just behind Chebet last year, went on to win in Chicago in the second-fastest time in race annals. 'Winning Chicago gave me motivation that I can come to Boston and win,' said Korir, who would join brother Wesley, the 2012 titlist, as the only victorious siblings.
Also among the contenders are Kenya's CyBrian Kotut (2:03:22) and Ethiopia's Haymanot Alew (2:03:31), who both made the Berlin podium last year.
No US man has won here since Meb Keflezighi broke the tape in 2014. But a trio of Americans — Conner Mantz (2:07:47), Clayton Young (2:08:00), and CJ Albertson (2:08:17) — have the goods to all finish in the top 10, which hasn't happened since the 2018 hypothermic sloshfest.
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'I want to be in a position to podium in a race like this,' said Mantz, who has top-six placements in Chicago and New York, and was eighth at the Paris Olympics. 'What's that going to take? I don't know. Maybe I'm there now. But I'm going to try for it this time.'
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Obiri, who has reached the podium in her last five majors, is coming off a dream year, which she capped with a runner-up finish in New York.
'I think it will be a good year for me,' she said. 'We have world championships, other marathons coming. So Boston gives me a great indication about the year it will be.'
Obiri, who was the first woman to retain her crown here since her countrywoman/idol Catherine 'The Great' Ndereba in 2005, will be in familiar company.
Kenya's Sharon Lokedi (2:22:45), countrywoman and two-time victor Edna Kiplagat (2:19:50), and Ethiopia's Buze Diriba (2:20:22), who finished 2-3-4, all are back.
So is Ethiopia's Amane Beriso (2:14:58), the reigning world champion who was runner-up here two years ago. 'I am prepared very well,' said Beriso. 'I'm hoping that I will run a very good race.'
Lokedi, the surprise New York champion in 2022, sewed up an Olympic spot by coming in second here last year, and went on to place between Obiri and Beriso at the Paris Games.
'It helped with believing in myself, knowing I cannot limit what I can achieve,' Lokedi said. 'It helped to have the confidence to be strong and fight all the way through.'
Back for a third go is Emma Bates, the top US finisher at the last two races who was up front last year until an iffy foot finally undid her after the Newton hills and she ended up 12th.
'I want to run really smart,' said Bates, whose 2:22:10 clocking in 2023 is the second-fastest here by an American, eight seconds behind Shalane Flanagan. 'I want to set myself up not only to podium but to win.'
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