BOSTON, USA, Apr 17 – Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat produced a jaw-dropping performance to win the women’s Boston Marathon on her debut in 2:21:52 on Monday.
The 2011 and 2013 world marathon champion has now added the Boston Marathon to her list of titles that includes wins in Los Angeles and New York City in 2010.
Kiplagat, 37, was greeted by her children and family members as she crossed the line.
“I am happy today for coming to run at Boston for the first time. I feel so great and I’m humbled to win the race. When I was running my body was feeling good and when we were at 30km I increased the pace to see if I will cop up, so I tried to push more and I saw my fellow athletes were not picking up the pace and that’s the point I pulled pull away,” Kiplagat said.
“I am with my children Carlos and Wendy who accompanied me to support me. I am really proud of them because they gave me time to relax and do my training while I was here so I am very happy about them,” She said about her two kids who were at the finish line waiting for her.
At the 20-mile mark, Kiplagat was dominating the women’s race despite it being her first-ever attempt at the Boston Marathon. She was well ahead of the rest of the pack, and not long before that point, defending champion Atsede Baysa dropped out.
Baysa became the first Ethiopian woman to win since 2010. She was a massive 37 seconds behind at the 21.7-mile mark and secured a massive comeback win, making history. But this year, it wasn’t for her and the race quickly came down to Kiplagat and the other few women in the front of the pack.
Kiplagat even took Mile 20 in 4:50 unofficially, which is significant given it’s an uphill mile. At one point, she passed the water table, went back, grabbed the wrong bottle, put it back and then kept going … her lead was more than secure at that point, just under 30 seconds.
At Mile 25, Kiplagat put in a 5:17 mile and her total elapsed time was 2:15.32.
The win saw a Kenyan reclaim the title for the first time since 2015 when Caroline Rotich won it. Last year Ethiopian Atsede Baysa was the winner.
American Jordan Hasay finished in third place at 2:23:00, the fastest debut for an American female by nearly three minutes. Desi Linden took fourth place and Kenyan-born Bahraini Rose Chelimo took second in 2:22:51 while Jordan Hasay of the United States was third in 2:23:00.