Hellen Obiri of Kenya will return to the Boston Marathon Running Shoes - Gear.
In the race’s history, only four other women (Bobbi Gibb, Sara Mae Berman, Uta Pippig, and Fatuma Roba) have won three times a row, according to race organizers, who released the elite field today. The race is set for April 21.
Last year, Obiri broke the race open by covering the 24th mile in 4:41 and won in 2:22:37, 8 seconds ahead of her countrywoman Sharon Lokedi, who will also return to Boston.
Obiri, 35, trains in Boulder, Colorado, with the On Athletics Club, and she has been on the podium in five of the six marathons she has run. In addition to her two Boston titles, she won the New York City Marathon in 2023, finished second there in 2024, and won the Olympic bronze medal in Paris. (The only blemish on her marathon record was her sixth-place finish at her debut in New York in 2022.)
Obiri and Lokedi will be challenged by Amane Beriso and Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia. Beriso has a personal best of 2:14:58 from the Valencia Marathon in 2022. She’s currently the fifth-fastest woman of all time.
Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia, the defending men’s champion, will also return to Boston. Lemma’s 2:01:48 from Valencia in 2023 makes him the fourth-fastest man in history.
Last year in Boston, Lemma got out to a large early lead, and the course record seemed almost certain to fall. But by the Newton hills, Lemma was feeling his hot early pace and slowed considerably. He held on to win in 2:06:17.
His challengers at the 2025 race will include Evans Chebet of Kenya, who has won the race twice (2022 and 2023) and was third in 2024. John Korir of Kenya, who Beginner Running Gear The Psychology Behind Runners’ Obsession With BQs.
A Strong American Field
Many top Americans are entered into Boston. On the women’s side, they include Keira D’Amato, who briefly held the American record of 2:19:12 in 2022, and Sara Hall, who had a strong race at last fall’s Berlin Marathon, where she ran 2:23:45. She’ll turn 42 the week before the race.
D’Amato told Runner’s World in a text message that she is recovering from the injury in her left foot—stress reactions in her calcaneus and talus—that caused her to drop out of Chicago. “Hoping all the cross training has made me Boston Strong,” she wrote. “I’m building up conservatively to have a killer 2025.”
Olympians Dakotah Popehn and Des Linden will run (Linden for the 12th time), as will Emma Bates, the top American at Boston last year, Olympic Marathon Trials fourth-place finisher Jess McClain, and notables Sara Vaughn, Nutrition - Weight Loss.
On the men’s side, Olympians and training partners Health & Injuries, who finished eighth and ninth at the Games, respectively, will run Boston. They’ll be joined by CJ Albertson, who runs several fast marathons each year (five in 2024, including How to Start Running) and Zach Panning, who was fifth at the Olympic Marathon Trials.
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Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World briefly held the American record of 2:19:12 in 2022, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
