Lokedi chasing back-to-back victories against loaded Boston Marathon field

Sharon Lokedi will attempt to become a back-to-back Boston Marathon champion on Monday, 20 April, with the Kenyan runner insisting ​the pressure of defending her title changes nothing about ‌how she approaches the race.

Lokedi, who won in Boston last year with a course record of 2:17:22, but her official personal best (PB) was achieved six months later when she went on to place second in New York in 2:20:07 (Boston is ineligible for records and PBs).

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Her performance last year shaved two minutes and 37 seconds ​off the course record set in 2014 by Buzunesh ⁠Deba, but as she heads to the US race, she maintains that the stakes are different, and she is ready.

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"Every time ​you do a marathon, you think it's going to ​get easier, but it never really does. It is always a different race, a different ​group of women, a different type of competition.

So I just ‌treat ⁠it like it's a new race," she offered. "I've trained well, I've done all I could, and I'm excited. It's an ​open race, you ​never know, but I put myself there and hope for the best."

She races wearing her own exclusive hot pink UA Velociti Elite 3 running shoe, which she was involved in designing. The Elite 3 is the same shoe Lokedi wore when she broke last year’s race record.

“In dreaming up my return to Boston, the Under Armour team opened the door to my thoughts on shoe design. Being part of the process from start to finish on the Velociti Elite 3, from the testing to the colour, was so fun!

With our uniforms being a bit more subtle, I wanted pops of colour on my feet. I cannot wait to race in them on Monday,” Lokedi said.

Meanwhile, fellow Kenyan Irine Cheptai has the fastest official PB of the field. The 2017 world cross-country champion clocked a PB of 2:17:51 when finishing third at the 2024 Chicago Marathon, then went on to place fourth in Boston last year. Later in 2025, she was runner-up in Shanghai in 2:18:51.

Loice Chemnung clocked 2:18:24 to finish fourth in Chicago last year in what was her first completed marathon. She was a non-finisher at the Osaka Marathon in January but rebounded a few weeks later to win the Burj2Burj Half Marathon.

Ethiopians Workenesh Edesa and Bedatu Hirpa are also ones to watch. Edesa won the 2024 Sydney Marathon, as well as the Osaka and Hamburg Marathons in 2025, while Hirpa was the Paris and Dubai Marathon winner last year.

Kenya’s Mary Ngugi-Cooper, who set a PB of 2:19:25 in Chicago last year, has placed in the top 10 five times in Boston.

There are also eight US women in the field with PBs faster than 2:26, including US record-holder Emily Sisson, and 2025 World Championships fourth-place finisher Susanna Sullivan.

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Leading Women Entries

Irine Cheptai (KEN) 2:17:51

Workenesh Edesa (ETH) 2:17:55

Loice Chemnung (KEN) 2:18:24

Bedatu Hirpa (ETH) 2:18:27

Emily Sisson (USA) 2:18:29

Mary Ngugi-Cooper (KEN) 2:19:26

Sharon Lokedi (KEN) 2:20:07

Sara Hall (USA) 2:20:32

Calli Hauger-Thackery (GBR) 2:21:24

Susanna Sullivan (USA) 2:21:56

Fiona O’Keeffe (USA) 2:22:10

Mao Uesugi (JPN) 2:22:11

Isobel Batt-Doyle (AUS) 2:22:59

Lisa Weightman (AUS) 2:23:15

Mercy Chelangat (KEN) 2:23:33

Annie Frisbie (USA) 2:24:12

Dakotah Popehn (USA) 2:24:20

Jess McClain (USA) 2:25:46