Sharon Lokedi wins Boston again in 2:18:51; Jess McClain fastest American woman there
Kenya swept the podium, McClain was fifth in 2:20:49, Annie Frisbie beat Shalane Flanagan's old American mark too, and four Americans made the top ten.
Photograph: The lead women in the 2026 Boston Marathon near Walnut Street in Newton, past mile 19: Annie Frisbie, Jess McClain, Loice Chemnung, Mary Chelangat, Sharon Lokedi, Irine Cheptai and Mary Ngugi-Cooper, by ArnoldReinhold, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSharon Lokedi defended her Boston Marathon title on Monday in 2:18:51, the second-fastest winning time in the race's history behind her own 2:17:22 from last year. Loice Chemnung was second in 2:19:35 and Mary Ngugi-Cooper third in 2:20:07, an all-Kenyan podium, with Mercy Chelangat fourth.
The Americans ran the first half. Susanna Sullivan led at 5 km and 10 km, the pack 19 strong at 33:31, and Carrie Ellwood, Kodi Kleven and Dakotah Popehn took 16 women through halfway in 1:11:02. The race broke up on the Newton hills and Lokedi ran 14:48 from 35 to 40 km, leaving Irine Cheptai and Chemnung behind.
Jess McClain was fifth in 2:20:49, the fastest a US woman has run at Boston. Annie Frisbie, eighth in 2:22:00, also beat the old American mark, Shalane Flanagan's 2:22:02 from 2014. Emily Sisson was ninth in 2:22:39 in her Boston debut and Ellwood tenth in 2:22:53: four Americans in the top ten, the most since 2018. Popehn, Elena Hayday, Kleven and Amanda Vestri followed in the next five. Sara Hall won the masters race in 2:31:55.
In the wheelchair races Marcel Hug won for a ninth time in 1:16:06, the second-fastest time ever on the course, and Eden Rainbow-Cooper took her second title in 1:30:51.
Lokedi has now won Boston twice and New York once. The Americans did the pacing and took the records. Everyone got something out of the tailwind.
Sources: FloTrack; Race Results Weekly via RunBlogRun; USATF.
