HOPKINTON-TO-BOSTON, April 20 — John Korir is on a roll! The 29-year-old lanky Kenyan has now won four of his last five marathons and simply dominated the 130th running of Boston, defending his title and running a 2:01:52 course record to boot.
“I’m so excited,” said Korir (whose surname has been listed as Kipkosgei in some stats sources over the years including T&FN). “I knew I would defend my title, but I didn’t know I would run that fast. When I crossed the finish line, I did not know that I had the course record. Then they told me, and I started to be very happy.” Yes, literally bounding with joy.
It was a day on which most runners found it hard to contain themselves, blessed with a steady 8–12mph tailwind, mid 40s (7–8C) temps and PR-rated 28-degree dewpoint.
Korir ran more than a minute faster than anyone had ever completed the jaunt in from Hopkinton, displacing Geoffrey Mutai’s 2:03:02 run in 2011 — aided by even stronger winds.
That was just the beginning as Tokyo25 champ Alphonce Simbu won another sprint finish this time besting Boston ’21 winner Benson Kipruto 2:02:47–2:02:50. Five athletes bettered 2:04, 13 under 2:06, and 20 under 2:08. Exciting times and all appropriately affixed with an aided asterisk.
Zouhair Talbi paced U.S. athletes, finishing 5th in 2:03:45. Fellow “new American” Charles Hicks took a huge step up in his second marathon, crossing 7th in 2:04:35. Both bettered Ryan Hall’s American Boston record of 2:04:58 from 2011. Clayton Young rebounded from injury to finish 11th in 2:05:41. Ryan Ford, whose previous fastest marathon was 2:08:00 at Boston last year, went 2:05:46 in 12th, and Joe Klecker had the best marathon showing of his career, finishing 13th in 2:05:56.
Evidencing what a tailwind Boston in the carbon fiber shoes era means, those 5 Americans moved to positions 1–5 on the all-conditions U.S. all-time list.
The race was fast from the free-falling 14:19 opening 5K. Ryan Ford, Henrik Pfeiffer and Alex Maier filled in admirably for Conner Mantz, who was an early leader in ’25. The tempo-setting trio this time tapped out 4:40ish miles and seldom let the pace slack with only the 4:53 fifth, 4:53 tenth and 4:51 twentieth miles slower than 4:50.
A cumbersome pack of 2-dozen runners latched onto the fast and steady pace and crossed 20K in 58:40. Amid the raucous greetings at Wellesley College, 2016 Boston champ Lemi Berhanu slipped out the front door and surged ahead to cross halfway in 61:43, 7 seconds up on the defending champ and the chase pack.
A few minutes later, Korir stretched his legs and closed the gap with such ease that Berhanu gave up the gambit and eventually DNFed.
The pack regrouped and Korir went back to chilling. ”My brother Wesley [the 2012 Boston winner] told me go there and be yourself and be patient for the first 30km and then try to push.”
Ethiopian Milkesa Mengesha attempted to preempt those plans, hitting the front at 25K and forging a 9-second lead on the first of the Newton Hills that grew to 12 over the second hill as he crossed 30K in 1:27:26.
Korir stayed with the race plan: “I was doing my thing and just relaxing, then I started to pick up the pace and push harder. When he went, I was not that worried because I knew I could close him.”
Just as Mengesha was fading on the third hill, Korir hit high gear. He swept into the lead and away from the chase pack. By 20 miles (1:33:48) he had already forged a 7-second gap.
“I closed him and saw he’s not moving that fast. I just had to push and left him.”
Scampering up the Heartbreak Hill mile in 4:44, Korir’s lead grew to 22 seconds, then to 39 seconds as he split 8:58 between 21 and 23 miles.
“When I made the move, I was a little bit scared,” he said, “and had a little bit more courage because I don’t know if someone would catch me in the finish. I was trying to run away from them as far as I could.
“I was not thinking about the record that much, but we passed the crowds and I heard people shouting that I was on pace for the course record, so I went for it.”
The record came as Korir excelled on both the up and downhills. “In the last 10K,” he said, “I usually think about my training and in my training grounds you can’t avoid hills.”
Strengthened with increased training volume (reputedly as high as 150 miles per week), Korir oozed fitness yet his speed is somewhat disguised by the ease which he covers ground. There was no fooling the clock as he closed with splits of 14:10 (30–35K), 14:00 (35–40K) and 6:02, zipping the final mile in 4:19.
Korir concluded, “I just want to show up, do the race, and let the times come. It was good to defend my title, but the time came, so I ran it.”
The 31-year-old Talbi continues to crank out strong performances since his change of allegiance was approved last year. “I’ve been training very well doing PBs at every distance,” he said. “So I was really motivated to just follow the surges and see what’s going to happen.
“I knew there was going to be a tailwind, and going through the half in 61 minutes, I was like, ‘Today’s going to be a fast time.’ I felt like everything was clicking and I was following every move until 23 miles when I was thinking, that’s enough. I need to keep some energy for the last few miles.”
The fastest American ever in Boston admits, “I was just surprised and very happy with that time. The focus for me in the last mile or two was to catch the guy in front of me for 4th place. I was like 5 seconds behind him the whole time and never caught him, but he really pushed me to run a fast time.”
BOSTON MARATHON MEN’S RESULTS
(aided course: downhill, tailwind)
MEN
1. John Korir (AKA Kipkosgei) (Ken) 2:01:52 (a-c WL) (a-c: 5, 9 W) (cr—old cr 2:03:02 Geoffrey Mutai [Ken] ’11) (1:01:50/1:00:02);
2. Alphonce Felix Simbu (Tan) 2:02:47 (a-c: x, 10 W);
3. Benson Kipruto (Ken) 2:02:50; 4. Hailemariyam Kiros (Eth) 2:03:42;
5. Zouhair Talbi (US) 2:03:45 (a-c AL) (a-c: 1, 1 A) (1:01:56/1:01:49);
6. Tebello Ramakongoana (Les) 2:04:18;
7. Charles Hicks (US) 2:04:35 (a-c: 2, 2 A) (1:01:55/1:02:40);
8. Richard Ringer (Ger) 2:04:47; 9. Alex Masai (Ken) 2:05:32; 10. Milkesa Mengesha (Eth) 2:05:35;
11. Clayton Young (US) 2:05:41 (a-c: 3, 3 A) (1:01:52/1:03:49);
12. Ryan Ford (US) 2:05:46 (a-c: 4, 4 A);
13. Joe Klecker (US) 2:05:56 (a-c: 5, 5 A);
14. Rory Linkletter (Can) 2:06:04; 15. Yemane Haileselassie (Eri) 2:06:06; 16. Nicholas Kipkorir (Ken) 2:06:07; 17. Hendrik Pfeiffer (Ger) 2:06:34; 18. Sondre Nordstad Moen (Nor) 2:06:52; 19. Haftu Knight (US) 2:07:38; 20. Wesley Kiptoo (US) 2:07:55; 22. Galen Rupp (US) 2:08:15; 23. Murphy Smith (US) 2:08:58; 24. Robert Miranda (US) 2:09:40;
… 26. Jacob Thomson (US) 2:09:51; 27. CJ Albertson (US) 2:09:59;… 29. Turner Wiley (US) 2:10:16; 30. Ryan Johnson (US) 2:10:20; 31. Charlie Sweeney (US) 2:11:28; 32. Ben Olson (US) 2:11:42;… 34. Nick Hauger (US) 2:12:05; 35. Jack Mastandrea (US) 2:12:19.
