Boston Marathon 2024 LIVE: Results as Sisay Lemma wins but misses course record

Evans Chebet targets a third successive victory in the men’s elite race but faces stiff competition from Sisay Lemma and Gabriel Geay

Moment 2023 Boston Marathon winners Evans Chebet and Hellen Obiri cut the finish line

Ethiopia’s Sisay Lemma laid down a marker for the Paris Olympics with victory in the Boston Marathon ending Evans Chebet’s pursuit of a third consecutive title. Lemma set the early pace in the men’s elite competition and flew out ahead of the rest of the field to open a gap on the rest.

He was left to his own devices and for three-quarters of the run looked on track to beat the course record. The difficult and hilly last 10km put those thoughts to an end as Lemma’s pace dropped off massively with the chasers only growing stronger. Mohamed Esa came through late on to claim second with Chebet third but the damage was done as Lemma crossed the line over a minute ahead of his rivals.

Hellen Obiri celebrated a second win in as many years in the women’s elite race but was forced to work hard for her victory. Throughout the course she attempted to pull away but was drawn into the field until the final few miles. Five runners broke away with Obiri and Sharon Lokedi further distancing themselves. It was a two-woman race leading to the final mile but the Kenyan had more energy in reserve and powered to the line.

Eden Rainbow-Cooper also became the first British won to claim a title at the Boston Marathon as she triumphed over Manuela Schar in the women’s wheelchair event while Marcel Hug broke his own course record in the men’s wheelchair race as Britain’s David Weir finished third.

Relive our coverage of the marathon with the live blog below:

Boston Marathon 2024 LIVE

• The Boston Marathon took place on Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts
• 30,000 people expected to participate after elite races
• Sisay Lemma wins the men’s elite race at the Boston Marathon with Mohamed Esa in second
• Evans Chebet finished third in his pursuit of three consecutive Boston Marathons after wins in 2022 and 2023
• Hellen Obiri wins back-to-back women’s elite titles finishing ahead of Sharon Lokedi and Edna Kiplogat
• Eden Rainbow-Cooper becomes first British woman to win elite wheelchair race at Boston Marathon
• Marcel Hug breaks course record and wins men’s wheelchair race

[15 April 2024 14:20 · Mike Jones]

Military marchers set out from Hopkinton to start the 128th Boston Marathon

A group Massachusetts National Guard members early Monday crossed the Boston Marathon start line painted in honor of the town that has hosted the marathon for the past century, launching the 128th edition of the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon.

Race Director Dave McGillivray sent the group of about 30 people off shortly after 6 a.m. He thanked them for their service and told them to have a great time. Lt. Col. Paula Reichert Karsten, one of the marchers, said she wanted to be part of a “quintessential Massachusetts event.”

[15 April 2024 14:12 · Mike Jones]

Emma Bates, a top US contender in the Boston Marathon, will try to beat Kenyans and dodge potholes

Emma Bates should be extra weary of the Boston Marathon course on Monday when she tries to improve upon last year’s fifth-place finish.

Not the hills or the headwinds.

The potholes.

The 31-year-old former Boston resident stepped in one midway through the Chicago Marathon last fall, tearing a tissue in her foot. She finished 13th but left the course in a wheelchair.

A setback during her recovery forced Bates to withdraw from the Olympic marathon trials in February. So, instead of planning for Paris, Bates is running Boston again a year after she led the pack through Brookline, with the crowd chanting her name.

[15 April 2024 14:05 · Mike Jones]

Boston Marathon 2024 LIVE

Before the first competitors got their races underway, Mayor Michelle Wu and Governor Maura Healey were among those who stopped to honour the people who lost their lives or were injured in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

Three people were killed and hundreds were injured when a pair of bombs detonated near the finish line 11 years ago.

(REUTERS)

[15 April 2024 14:01 · Mike Jones]

Boston Marathon 2024 LIVE

As we wait for the action in Boston to begin here are come pictures of happy dogs.

These are from the Boston Marathon Golden Retriever Meetup yesterday which takes place every year on the eve of the Boston Marathon.

The event is hosted by MA Golden Meetups and honours Spencer, the Boston Marathon Golden Retriever, and his sister Penny, who appeared in many marathons, plus all dogs who have lost their lives to cancer.

(AFP via Getty Images)

(AFP via Getty Images)

(AFP via Getty Images)

[15 April 2024 13:55 · Mike Jones]

Boston Marathon 2024 LIVE

Athletes in the wheelchair and open categories will earn a further bonus of $50,000 (£40,400) if they break the Boston Marathon course record today.

The existing records are as follows:

Open Division

Men: Geoffrey Mutai - 2:03:02 (2011)

Women: Buzenesh Deba - 2:19:29 (2014)

Wheelchair Division

Men: Marcel Hug - 1:17:06 (2023)

Women: Manuela Schar - 1:28:17 (2017)

[15 April 2024 13:49 · Mike Jones]

Boston Marathon 2024 LIVE

Here’s how much entrants stand to earn based on finishing positions in the Wheelchair Division:

1st - $40,000 (£32,400)

2nd - $25,000 (£20,200)

3rd - $12,000 (£6,100)

4th -$8,500 (£6,900)

5th - $6,000 (£4,750)

6th - $4,000 (£3,200)

7th - $3,000 (£2,400)

8th - $2,500 (£2,000)

9th - $2,000 (£1,600)

10th - $1,500 (£1,200)

[15 April 2024 13:42 · Mike Jones]

Boston Marathon 2024 LIVE

The Boston event also makes history as the first World Marathon Major to offer course record bonuses of equal value to competitors in the wheelchair and open categories.

Here’s how much entrants stand to earn based on finishing positions in the Open Division:

1st - $150,000 (£121,300)

2nd - $75,000 (£60,700)

3rd - $40,000 (£32,400)

4th -$25,000 (£20,200)

5th - $18,000 (£14,600)

6th - $13,500 (£10,900)

7th - $10,500 (£8,500)

8th - $8,500 (£6,900)

9th - $7,000 (£5,700)

10th - $5,500 (£4,400)

[15 April 2024 13:35 · Mike Jones]

Boston Marathon 2024 LIVE

Who is competing in the elite men’s race?

Evans Chebet is seeking a third consecutive crown in Boston, here are the headline names for the men’s elite race plus their best marathon times and the races they achieved them in:

1. Sisay Lemma (Ethiopia) - 2:01:48 (Valencia, 2023)
2. Evans Chebet (Kenya) - 2:03:00 (Valencia, 2020)
3. Gabriel Geay (Tanzania) - 2:03:00 (Valencia, 2022) NR
4. Cybrian Kotut (Kenya) - 2:04:34 (Amsterdam, 2023)
5. Haftu Teklu (Ethiopia) - 2:04:43 (Berlin, 2023)
6. Shura Kitata (Ethiopia) - 2:04:49 (London, 2018)
7. John Korir (Kenya) - 2:05:01 (Chicago, 2022)
8. Mohamed Esa (Ethiopia) - 2:05:05 (Amsterdam, 2022)
9. Suguru Osako (Japan) - 2:05:29 (Tokyo, 2020)
10. Sondre Moen (Norway) - 2:05:48 (Fukuoka, 2017) AR

[15 April 2024 13:28 · Mike Jones]

Boston Marathon 2024 LIVE

Who is competing in the women’s elite race?

Here are the 10 fastest women in the elite field with their personal best marathon times and the races in which they achieved them:

1. Tadu Teshome (Ethiopia) - 2:17:36 (Valencia, 2022)
2. Hiwot Gebremaryam (Ethiopia) - 2:17:59 (Valencia, 2023)
3. Judith Korir (Kenya) - 2:18:20 (Eugene, 2022)
4. Meseret Belete (Ethiopia) - 2:18:21 (Amsterdam, 2023)
5. Tiruye Mesfin (Ethiopia) - 2:18:47 (Valencia, 2022)
6. Worknesh Edesa (Ethiopia) - 2:18:51 (Osaka, 2024)
7. Senbere Teferi (Ethiopia) - 2:19:21 (Berlin, 2023)
8. Dera Dida (Ethiopia) - 2:19:24 (Berlin, 2023)
9. Edna Kiplagat (Kenya) - 2:19:50 (London, 2012)*
10. Mary Ngugi-Cooper (Kenya) - 2:20:22 (London, 2022)

[15 April 2024 13:21 · Mike Jones]

Boston Marathon 2024 LIVE

What is the course?

The course begins in Hopkinton, a town in rural Massachusetts, with runners setting off from Main Street and heading down Route 135. They will plod through the towns of Ashland, Framingham, and Natick, before joining Route 16 shortly after Wellesley. Hanging a right on to Commonwealth Avenue (Route 30) by the fire station in Newton Lower Falls, the course continues over the Newton Hills and by Boston College, a university, before arriving at Cleveland Circle via Chestnut Hill Avenue.

The runners will then negotiate a left turn on to Beacon Street as it nears the finish, turning right on to Hereford Street, left on to Boylston Street and eventually concluding near the Boston Public Library in Copley Square in the heart of the city.