Kenyans dominate an enthralling 126th edition of famous road race
On what was the 50th anniversary of the first official women’s race in the Boston Marathon’s long history, the 2022 field produced one of the most exciting women’s marathons ever, with the lead changing repeatedly in the closing stages and the finish resembling a tactical track cycling race.
The win was secured by Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir in 2:21:01 after enduring one of the toughest 26.2-mile tests of her career, only breaking decisively clear in the last 200 metres.
Four seconds back came Ababel Yeshaneh, who has now managed top three finishes in Chicago, New York and Boston.
The race had been expected to come down to a battle between Jepchirchir and London winner Joyciline Jepkosgei – and these two controlled much of the race.
Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir won a thrilling women’s race at Boston in 2:21:01 as the lead changed repeatedly in the final miles with a final surge getting her 4 secs clear of Ababel Yeshaneh.
Charlotte Purdue was first non African in 9th in 2:25:26. #bostonmarathon2022— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) April 18, 2022
The contest had started slowly with a 17:42 opening 5km from a leading group of 25, but the tempo was lifted by a minute in the second 5km as the pack – now 12-strong – went through 10km in 34:21 (16:39). The two main protagonists wanted to go faster still, however, and again the pace was cranked up by almost another minute as 15km was reached in 50:10 (15:49) by what was now a leading quartet.
A 16:00 fourth 5km brought them through 20km in 66:10, while the halfway mark was passed in 69:41 and 25km in 1:22:20 (16:10). Now it came down to the big three of Jepchirchir, Jepkosgei and Yeshaneh.
With seemingly the first three now established the pace through the hills slowed through 30km in 1:39:20 (17:00) and they were through 20 miles in 1:46:58.
The race remained tactical through 35km in 1:56:46 (17:26) and 40km in 2:13:39 (16:53), though it proved too much for Jepkosgei who covered that last full 5km outside 18 minutes and she ultimately dropped back to seventh.
An astonishing finish in the women’s @bostonmarathon as Peres Jepchirchir claims her third marathon title in under 12 months 🙌 #AbbottWMM pic.twitter.com/ybGDjNiTY3
— Abbott WMMajors (@WMMajors) April 18, 2022
As the pace slowed in those final miles, Jepchirchir was content to follow the taller Yeshaneh though, with the watch on 2:15, she sprinted past and opened up a 20-matre gap. The race appeared to be over but the Ethiopian fought back.
Yeshaneh lost five metres on the last right turn and then, as they hit the final straight on 2:18, Jepchirchir kicked again but her move was covered once more and it took one last surge to make sure of victory.
The winner said: “I was not expecting that. The course was tough. I was feeling strong but then fell behind but I didn’t lose hope.”
With all the tactical slowing over the closing miles, Mary Ngugi closed up well to finish third in 2:21:32, while close behind the former double world champion Edna Kiplagat had her best marathon since 2018 with fourth place in 2:21:40.
Though there was much attention on some quality American competitors, the leading non-African was Britain’s Charlotte Purdue – who was a superb ninth in 2:25:26.
Peres Jepchirchir’s last three marathons. In less than 12 months:@Olympics 🥇@nycmarathon 🥇@bostonmarathon 🥇#AbbottWMM pic.twitter.com/0e2ek0XEr4
— Abbott WMMajors (@WMMajors) April 18, 2022
She looked under pressure as she held on to the leaders but got back into a more comfortable pace at 20km in 67:53, halfway in 71:39 and maintained that tempo pretty much to the end.
Purdue’s 5km splits were 17:42, 16:41, 16:23, 17:07, 17:13, 17:41 and 17:34.
The first American was Nell Rojas in tenth with 2:25:57.
Stephanie Rothstein-Bruce was 12th (2:28:02) and former winner Desiree Linden 13th (2:28:47).
The men’s race was a much cagier affair for longer, with the early splits disappointing as they went through 5km in 14:58, 10km in 29:40, 15km in 44:45, 20km in 60:03 and halfway in 63:26.
The lead group was still around 25-strong as they carried on at a fairly similar pace with 25km reached in 75:27, 30km in 1:31:00 and 20 miles in 1:37:57 as the pace slowed a little over the Heartbreak Hill section.
Evans Chebet wins the 126th Boston Marathon in 2:06:51 with splits of 63:26 and 63:25 winning with a stunning 13:55 5km from 35km including a 4:27 22nd mile.
Fellow Kenyans Lawrence Cherono (2:07:21) and Benson Kipruto (2:07:27) complete the top three #bostonmarathon2022— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) April 18, 2022
It all changed in the final miles, though.
Evans Chebet seemed to change from almost jogging to near sprinting in a few strides and a 4:27 22nd mile broke the field into smithereens. Once Chebet had established the gap he showed no signs of slowing as he clocked two further miles of 4:26 and covered the 5km stretch between 35km and 40km in 13:55!
Chebet’s halves were 63:26 and 63:25 and his incredibly powerful finish left the rest of the field over half a minute in arrears as he hit the line in 2:06:51.
Chebet was fourth in last year’s London Marathon in 2:05:26 and his best time remains his 2020 win in 2:03:00 at Valencia, but this victory will be the one that cements his place among the world’s greatest marathoners.
Evans Chebet wins at Boston
Fellow Kenyans Lawrence Cherono (2:07:21) and Benson Kipruto (2:07:27) completed the top three, though three-time World Half-marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor faded to 18th in 2:11:49 having looked strong until Chebet’s surge.
Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay was fourth in 2:07:27, while Scott Fauble was the leading American in seventh in 2:08:33.
The wheelchair races lacked the same level of drama, with wins coming for American Daniel Romanchuk (1:26:58) and Swiss Manuela Schar (1:41:08).
Britain’s Johnboy Smith was third man in 1:32:55.
Men
1 Evans Chebet KEN 2:06:51
2 Lawrence Cherono KEN 2:07:21
3 Benson Kipruto KEN 2:07:27
4 Gabriel Gerald Geay TAN 2:07:53
5 Erick Kiptanui KEN 2:08:47
6 Albert Korir KEN 2:08:50
7 Scott Fauble 2:08:52
8 Jemal Yimer ETH 2:08:58
9 Elkanah Kibet 2:09:07
10 Kinde Atanaw ETH 2:09:16
11 Lemi Berhanu ETH 2:09:43
12 Bethwel Yegon KEN 2:09:44
13 CJ Albertson 2:10:23
14 Matt McDonald 2:10:35
15 Trevor Hofbauer CAN 2:10:52
16 Reed Fischer 2:10:54
17 Mick Iacofano 2:11:48
18 Geoffrey Kamworor KEN 2:11:49
19 Colin Bennie 2:12:08
20 Yuki Kawauchi JPN 2:12:55
21 Mike Sayenko 2:13:46
22 Jerrell Mock 2:14:10
23 Jonas Hampton 2:14:40
24 Ian Butler 2:14:48
25 Paul Hogan 2:15:08
26 Jared Ward 2:15:24
27 Matt Llano 2:16:39
28 Nicolas Montañez 2:19:23
29 Tyler Pence 2:19:39
30 Daniel Ortiz MEX 2:24:26
31 Markus Ploner ITA 2:24:52
32 Chip Ohara 2:28:03
33 Gilles Rubio FRA 2:29:47
Open
1 Ben Schneiderman 2:18:42
2 Alex Neuffer CAN 2:21:34
3 Nathanael Williams 2:21:51
4 Esteban Trujillo 2:22:45
5 Sergey Sushchickh RUS 2:23:16
6 Calum Neff CAN 2:23:44
7 David Sevcik 2:23:59
8 Samuel Fazioli 2:24:17
9 Alexander Healey 2:24:38
10 Jordan Tropf 2:24:44
11 Everett Hackett 2:25:02
12 Joe Kortenhof 2:25:06
13 Mitch Baum 2:25:08
14 Benjamin Macdonald 2:25:18
15 Richard Ho 2:25:32
16 Dylan Sykes 2:25:33
17 Michael Roeger AUS 2:25:42
18 Ryan Burd 2:25:47
19 Matthew Mulligan 2:26:02
20 Dennis Mbelenzi CAN 2:26:07
21 Micah Adams 2:26:32
22 Kenny Goodfellow 2:26:48
23 Daniel Pederson 2:26:57
24 David Walter 2:26:59
25 Fan Zhou CHN 2:27:00
26 Stephen Vangampleare 2:27:12
27 Steve Lawrence CAN 2:27:22
28 Matt McSweeny 2:27:24
29 Peter Hogan 2:27:26
30 Ryan Rafuse CAN 2:27:28
31 Josh Baden 2:27:31
32 Ben Bruce 2:27:34
33 Aaron Manning CAN 2:27:35
34 Niels Baljet NED 2:27:40
35 Zachary Holden 2:27:43
36 James Hartop GBR 2:27:43
37 Matthew Sarge 2:27:51
38 Ben Jaskowiak 2:27:55
39 Castronuovo Vinny 2:28:03
40 Andrew Skurka 2:28:03
41 Ignacio Hernando ESP 2:28:05
42 Doug Woodcock 2:28:13
43 Nicholas Victor 2:28:16
44 Stephen Jackson GBR 2:28:21
45 Derek Griffin IRL 2:28:21
46 Sakakibara Yuzuru JPN 2:28:23
47 Joseph Darda 2:28:27
48 Ben Cole GBR 2:28:30
49 Brian Schroy 2:28:31
50 Tyler Morey 2:28:36
51 Wojciech Kopeć POL 2:28:39
52 Cristobal Gutierrez 2:28:40
53 Daniel Alexander GBR 2:28:40
54 Shaun Dever 2:28:42
55 Paul Piper GBR 2:28:46
56 Grissom Ashton 2:28:46
57 Josh Kalapos 2:28:50
58 Brandon Abasolo 2:28:51
59 Anthony Williams 2:29:09
60 Mitchell Germann 2:29:18
61 Yu Hsiao TPE 2:29:22
62 Drew Kiracofe 2:29:23
63 Austin Hendrix 2:29:25
64 Max Haiss 2:29:25
65 Austin Lavin 2:29:37
66 Dylan Stevens 2:29:39
67 Erik Hinrichsen 2:29:41
68 Fabián Daza COL 2:29:44
69 Devon Colegrove 2:29:49
70 Wayne Blas GUM 2:29:50 NR
71 Bryan Rigby 2:29:52
72 Mark Hegarty 2:29:57
73 Michael Grasing 2:29:58
150 Alastair Thurlbeck GBR 2:33:11
Leading GB Vets
711 STEVE PENNINGTON (M50) 2:44:05
2411 JIM MORRIS (M55) 2:57:53
6376 ROY TOMLINSON (M60) 3:15:44
6796 DAVID EVANS (M65) 3:20:05 (3:16:35 gun)
7617 MATTHEW WERNHAM (M65) 3:20:54 (3:19:29 gun)
8258 JOHN ORDEN (M65) 3:27:08 (3:21:56 gun)
Women: Mar:
1 Peres Jepchirchir KEN 2:21:01
2 Ababel Yeshaneh ETH 2:21:05
3 Mary Ngugi KEN 2:21:32
4 Edna Kiplagat KEN 2:21:40
5 Monicah Wanjuhi KEN 2:22:13
6 Violah Lagat KEN 2:23:47
7 Joyciline Jepkosgei KEN 2:24:43
8 Degitu Azimeraw ETH 2:25:23
9 Charlotte Purdue GBR 2:25:26
10 Nell Rojas 2:25:57
11 Malindi Elmore CAN 2:27:58
12 Stephanie Bruce 2:28:02
13 Desiree Linden 2:28:47
14 Dakotah Lindwurm 2:29:55
15 Bria Wetsch 2:30:42
16 Elaina Tabb 2:31:34
17 Maegan Krifchin 2:31:53
18 Kathy Derks 2:34:54
19 Natasha Wodak CAN 2:35:08
20 Angie Orjuela COL 2:35:17
21 Sara Vaughn 2:36:27
22 Aisling Cuffe 2:37:23
23 Annmarie Tuxbury 2:38:15
24 Kate Vaughan CAN 2:38:26
25 Kayla Lampe 2:38:38
26 Ashlee Powers 2:39:59
27 Caity Phillips 2:40:09
28 Kate Sanborn 2:40:16
29 Katie Kellner 2:40:57
30 Mary Denholm 2:40:59
31 Gina Rouse 2:42:54
32 Paula Pridgen 2:43:16
33 Alison Lavender GBR 2:43:17
34 Hilary Corno 2:45:34
35 Erika Fluehr 2:45:40
Open
1 Kaylee Flanagan 2:40:22
2 Katrina Morrissey 2:40:45
3 Emilee Risteen 2:42:26
4 Elizabeth Bigelow 2:43:12
5 Gracie Griffith 2:43:19
6 Maria Langholz 2:43:55
7 Caroline Williams 2:44:06
8 Alexandria Hackett 2:44:11
9 Diane Neubauer 2:44:49
10 Catherine Lisle 2:46:58
22 Lauren Cooper GBR 2:49:29
34 Vicky Wright W40 GBR 2:51:20
52 Sioned Howells GBR 2:54:26
65 Lara Bromilow W35 GBR 2:55:36
111 Lucy Brash GBR 2:59:11
126 Caroline Brown W35 GBR 2:59:51 (2:56:38 chip)
144 Katherine Owens W40 GBR 3:00:21
Other GB Leading Vets (with overall posn)
3468 KATY WOODWARD (W40) 3:01:01
2441 REBECCA O’KILL (W35) 3:01:28
4888 JOANNE SHALE (W55) 3:10:21 (3:08:28 chip)
8721 JACKIE MURDY (W55) 3:26:27 (3:23:46 chip)
8659 JANET WORSTER (W55) 3:27:00 (3:23:32 chip)
12312 CHRISTINA KLUTH (W60) 3:43:58 (3:37:13 chip)
15371 NORA HAGGERT (W65) 3:57:37 (3:49:32 chip)
17200 ELIZABETH DRIVER (W65) 4:04:16 (3:58:53 chip)
17541 PENNY JARVIS (W70) 4:08:44 (4:00:56 chip)
The Boston AA Invitational mile races the day before were won by John Gregorek (4:08.16) and Annie Rodenfels (4:35.51).
The Boston marathon was also held in the UK on Monday – in Lincolnshire – and it resulted in wins for William Strangeway (2:25:11) and Natasha White (2:59:07).
» To subscribe to AW magazine, CLICK HERE
