Boston Wins Went To Fastest Runners In the Field

By Adam Kopet

The Boston Marathon is unique among all the world's major marathons. Its history is long and storied. Every year adds a new chapter and if the 2019 Boston Marathon needed a chapter title, it would include the word speed.

RESULTS

At times, the Boston Marathon seems as if it is forced to play second fiddle to its April cousin from across the pond, the London Marathon. Each year, London announces ever more impressive fields with intriguing matchups, including Eliud Kipchoge versus Mo Farah and Mary Keitany versus Tirunesh Dibaba.

The Boston Marathon is not set up for speed like the London Marathon is. But speed is not the only way to win a marathon, especially in Boston where, despite the net downhill course, the Newton hills have been known to break many fit runners.

However, as a Abbott World Marathon Majors race, the Boston Marathon is still able to attract some top runners from around the world. This year, the men's field featured five men who had run under 2:05 in their careers, including two who had run under 2:04:10 last year.

The women's field was not as deep, but still featured four women who had broken 2:20 in their careers, including one who earlier this year broke 2:18.

When the racing was over Monday on Boylston Street, two new champions were crowned. Lawrence Cherono of Kenya won the men's race in 2:07:57 in a sprint finish over Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia. Both men own sub-2:05 clockings in their careers, but Cherono stands out as the fastest entrant in the field. He won the 2018 Amsterdam Marathon last fall, with its flat and fast course, in 2:04:06.

The women's race featured a completely different winning strategy. Rather than wait for a sprint finish, Ethiopia's Worknesh Degefa made her bid before the 10K mark. It was her first time racing a marathon with anything that could be called hills, having only ever raced the Dubai Marathon, including her 2:17:41 clocking for second in January's edition. She slowed over the final few miles in Boston, but it was too late for any of the chasing runners to catch her.

There is never a race that can be completely decided by the times runners have run before. Surprise winners, like last year's Yuki Kawauchi of Japan, can happen. The race must be run to show who is the best on the day. However, with Cherono ranked 14th on the men's all-time performer list and with Degefa ranked fourth on the women's list, this year speed did matter.

The speed of Cherono and Degefa might not have been evident in the times they ran Monday, but it was that speed that helped propel them to the top of the podium.

And as American runners look for positive takeaways from Monday's race, the U.S. has added two more sub-2:10 runners to its arsenal in Scott Fauble and Jared Ward. Galen Rupp has been the only American sub-2:10 performer since since 2013.

The women too have plenty to be proud of, after placing two women in the top five, with Jordan Hasay finishing third and Desiree Linden finishing fifth. This result occurred without four of the top active American marathoners not competing in Boston.

After the race, according to David Monti of Race Results Weekly, Hasay announced she planned to chase Deena Kastor's American record of 2:19:36 at the Chicago Marathon in the fall. She recognizes speed matters too as we are a year out from the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.