Lokedi breaks course record as Kenyans shine in Boston Marathon
Lokedi shaved off 2:37 seconds that had stood as a record for the past 11 years
Kenya had a successful outing in the 2025 Boston Marathon on Easter Monday with four runners clinching medals in both men and women’s races respectively.
Sharon Lokedi broke the course record by two minutes (2:17.22) thereby defeating two-time Boston winner Hellen Obiri in the process. Lokedi, 31, was spectacular in her tactics and finishing kick as she went about her business in style.
Lokedi shaved off 2:37 seconds that had stood as a record for the past 11 years. Hellen Obiri, the winner in Boston for the past two years, was second in 2:17:41 while Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw was third in 2:18:06.For her troubles, Lokedi who is based in the USA collected USD 150,000 (KSh 19.4 million) plus an extra USD 50,000 (KSh 6.4 million) for breaking Ethiopian Athlete Buzunesh Deba’s record in 2014.
“It feels so good, so great. I can’t believe it, I’m so excited,” said Lokedi, who won the 2022 New York Marathon on her debut at the distance. “We went through half way in 68 minutes and I thought ‘that’s so fast’, but we hadn’t got to the hills yet. We just kept the pace honest, but I was worried we were going too fast. I have finished behind Hellen so many times, but this time I told myself it wasn’t going to happen again. I fought and wanted it so bad. I loved every part of this race.”
In the men’s event, John Korir repeated a feat that his elder brother Wesley Korir did 13 years ago at the same course. He took the men’s title in 2:04:45, the second-fastest winning time ever achieved in Boston. The 2024 Chicago Marathon champion finished comfortably ahead of Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu and Kenya’s Cybrian Kotut, who both clocked 2:05:04.
The first 20 km was interesting as a pack of 20 runners hurdled together and left the rest of the runners in their wake. This group included defending champion Sisay Lemma, Kenya’s Cybrian Kotut, USA’s Conner Mantz, Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu and Australia’s Patrick Tiernan. The pack had been reduced slightly to 16 men by the half-way stage, reached in 1:01:52 with the predicted finishing time having now slipped some way outside the course record pace.
However, in a stunning turnaround, Lemma – the fourth-fastest man in history and one of the big pre-race favorites – stopped and withdrew from the race in what appeared to be an injury. A mile later, Korir stepped up and became visible with good sprinting tactics. In just a few minutes, Korir had raced clear the lead pack and opened a gap of nearly 20 seconds, reaching 21 miles in 1:39:40.
It was now all about managing the pace and keeping his endurance intact. With five kilometres left, Korir was out in front with victory in his sights while Kotut, Edris, Simbu and Mantz followed about 40 seconds behind. He was however trailed but he had good depth and gap to finish in sensational style.
