This Monday, April 17, all eyes will be on the Boston Marathon. The super star of the discipline, Eliud Kipchoge will try to win the event for the first time in his career. However, the Kenyan will be up against three former winners of the event. In the women's race, Ethiopia's Amane Beriso is the slight favorite ahead of her compatriot Gotytom Gebreslase and Kenya's Hellen Obiri
Eliud Kipchoge is in search of his first title in Boston. The Kenyan legend will be running the marathon for the first time in his career. He skipped the London Marathon, scheduled for April 29, for a specific purpose. The 36-year-old runner wants to achieve the grand slam. He has his counter four of the six World Major Marathon Series.
He won in Berlin, London, Chicago and Tokyo, and now he only needs New York and Boston. This Monday, he does not intend to miss. But beware! The competition will be very tough for the 42, 195 km record holder. He will face three former winners of the Boston Marathon. These include his compatriots Evans Chebet, defending champion, and Benson Kipruto, crowned in 2021. The two-time winner (2013 and 2015), Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa will also be in the running. Desisa has also finished second on two occasions, in 2016 and 2019. These athletes are therefore perfectly mastering the course of the Boston Marathon. The Ethiopian Shura Kitata, who won the London Marathon in 2020, the 2015 world champion Ghirmay Ghebreslassie and Albert Korir, winner of the New York Marathon in 2021 will also be part of the race. It will be a very strong field.
A great anticipation in the women's race
The women's race is not to be outdone. The Ethiopian Amane Beriso is the great favorite of the race. She has a personal best time of 2 h 14 min 58 s, which she achieved in Valencia last December. Beriso also won the Mexico City Marathon last year, when she was making her comeback after a series of knee injuries. However, she had finished 12th in Boston in 2016. It's not a foregone conclusion for the Ethiopian. Especially since the reigning world champion, Gotytom Gebreslase, will be competing. Unlike her compatriot, Gebreslase will make her debut at the Boston Marathon. However, she is not new to a race in the city as she is a two-time finalist in the Boston Half Marathon.
Another notable debutant is Hellen Obiri of Kenya. The two-time world 5000m champion ran her first marathon in New York in November, finishing sixth, but since then she has won half marathons in Ras Al Khaimah and New York, where she set a course record of 1:07:21. Fellow two-time Boston Marathon winner Edna Kiplagat is back, as are Ethiopia's Ababel Yeshaneh and Kenya's Mary Ngugi, who finished second and third respectively in Boston last year.
