Kenyans win Boston Marathon: See scenes from the race

Associated Press
<p>Boston Marathon women's division winner Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, left, and men's winner Evans Chebet, of Kenya, pose at the finish line Monday, April 18, 2022, in Boston.</p>

AP Photo/Charles Krupa

Boston Marathon women's division winner Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, left, and men's winner Evans Chebet, of Kenya, pose at the finish line Monday, April 18, 2022, in Boston.

BOSTON (AP) — Peres Jepchirchir celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Boston Marathon women’s division by winning a see-saw sprint down Boylston Street on Monday as the race returned to its traditional Patriots’ Day spot in the schedule for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Running shoulder to shoulder for most of the course, the reigning Olympic champion and Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh traded places eight times in the final mile, with Jepchirchir pulling ahead for good in the final 385 yards. The Kenyan finished in 2 hours, 21 minutes, 1 seconds, four seconds ahead.

Kenya’s Evans Chebet pulled away with about four miles to go to win the men’s race in 2:06:51, 30 seconds ahead of Gabriel Geay of Tanzania. Defending champion Benson Kipruto was third.

American Daniel Romanchuk won his second career men’s wheelchair title in 1:26:58. Switzerland’s Manuela Schar won her second straight Boston crown and fourth overall, finishing in 1:41:08.

Sharing a weekend with the Red Sox home opener — the city’s other sporting rite of spring — more than 28,000 runners returned to the streets from Hopkinton to Copley Square six months after a smaller and socially distanced event that was the only fall race in its 126-year history.

Fans waved Ukrainian flags in support of the few dozen runners whose 26.2-mile run from Hopkinton to Copley Square was the easiest part of their journey. Athletes from Russia and Belarus were disinvited in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Check out scenes from the race in this photo gallery:

Categories: Trending