Kenyan distance runner Sharon Lokedi has given a historic performance at the Boston Marathon, winning the women’s race and setting a new course record.
Lokedi, 31, clocked a time of 2:17:22, which is more than 2.5 minutes faster than the previous mark set by Buzunesh Deba in 2014.
In the final two miles of the 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometre) race, Lokedi and the defending champion Hellen Obiri broke away from the rest of the field. Lokedi was able to hold off Obiri to claim victory and add another major title to her name after her debut win in the 2022 NYC Marathon.
“I’m always second to Hellen,” Lokedi said about Obiri, after denying her fellow Kenyan runner a historic three-peat at this race.
“[I said] today there’s no way… today I put it out there and I wanted to fight until the end. We all wanted it so bad,” she said.
It was an undoubtedly emotional finish, as Lokedi crossed the finish line with a smile and ran straight into her mother’s arms to celebrate.
“She’s my inspiration,” Lokedi said about her mother. “She’s always there supporting me, so it was so good to win this and have her here to see all that.”
Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw claimed third place, behind Lokedi and Obiri, in 2:18:06, which is still well inside the old course record of 2:19:59. It was a competitive women’s field out on the course this year, with the lead group flying through the halfway mark at 1:08:46.
It was in the latter half of the race where the lead group began to thin, just before Lokedi and Obiri’s final face off.
“We went through halfway in 68 minutes and I thought: That’s so fast! We hadn’t got to the hills yet,” Lokedi said after the race. “We just kept the pace honest, but I was worried we were going out too fast.”
“But I believed and just thought to stick with it and see how it ends. You never know until you try.”
The Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon and ranks as one of the world’s best-known road racing events. It’s beloved by many in global running communities and is one of the eight World Marathon Majors, with the 2025 Sydney Marathon being the most recent to join this group of prestigious races.
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