Clinical Sisay denies Chebet third title in Boston

Sisay Lemma ran a solo race at this year’s Boston Marathon to lead an Ethiopian 1-2, clocking 2:06:17 to deny defending champion Evans Chebet his third title in a row.

The 33-year-old Ethiopian did it the hard way, running splits of 60:19/65:58, redemption after two DNFs and a 30th place in his three prior Boston appearances.

Chebet was pipped in the homestretch by 23-year-old Mohamed Esa (2:06:58), settling for bronze in 2:07:22.

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For Lemma, it was a race of redemption, following two previous outings in the US city that ended in disappointment. His winning time is the fourth fastest in Boston history.

Lemma made an early break in the men’s race and built up a huge lead, eventually winning by 41 seconds.

Ten men passed through the first 5km in 14:21, but that still wasn’t quite swift enough for Lemma, who increased his pace and started to pull away from the pack. He reached 10km in 28:28, by which point he already had a 25-second margin over an eight-man chase pack that included Chebet and Gabriel Geay – the top two finishers from last year. In the next five kilometers, Lemma had added almost a minute to his lead, reaching 15km in 42:43, 81 seconds ahead of his pursuers.

He reached the halfway point in 1:00:19 – the fastest ever half-way split recorded in Boston – by which point the chase pack was down to five men: Chebet, Albert Korir, Cybrian Kotut, John Korir and Haftu Teklu.

By the time Lemma reached 20 miles (1:33:48), he had increased his lead to two minutes and 49 seconds and was still just about on schedule to break Geoffrey Mutai’s course record of 2:03:02 from 2011. But he had some of the toughest parts of the course to contend with.

He slogged his way up Heartbreak Hill in 5:28 but his lead was starting to reduce. The chasers continued to reduce Lemma’s leading margin. With two miles to go, though, Lemma still had a 90-second cushion over Chebet and John Korir, who were running side by side, both looking set to claim the other podium places.

Despite his pace continuing to slip, Lemma’s lead proved too much for his opponents and he went on to cross the line in 2:06:17.

There was some excitement further back, though, as the strong-finishing Esa went from fifth at 23 miles to second by the finish line, claiming the runner-up spot in 2:06:58.

Chebet, the defending champion, this time finished third in 2:07:22 - his fourth consecutive podium finish in a marathon major.

“I previously didn’t finish in this race, so I wanted redemption for that, that’s why I came,” said Lemma, who last year moved to fourth on the world all-time list with his 2:01:48 victory in Valencia. “Thankfully I was able to redeem myself, so I’m happy. I planned to break the course record, but the hills at the end made me really tired. The reason I raced in Boston is because the course is similar to the Olympic one, so hopefully this will be good preparation for the Paris Games.”

Leading Men's Results

1 Sisay Lemma (ETH) 2:06:17

2 Mohamed Esa (ETH) 2:06:58

3 Evans Chebet (KEN) 2:07:22

4 John Korir (KEN) 2:07:40

5 Albert Korir (KEN) 2:07:47

6 Isaac Mpofu (ZIM) 2:08:17

7 CJ Albertson (USA) 2:09:53

8 Yuma Morii (KEN) 2:09:59

9 Cybrian Kotut (KEN) 2:10:29

10 Zouhair Talbi (MAR) 2:10:45