Boston Marathon 2024: Sisay Lemma, Helen Obiri Truimph, Evans Chebet Third

• Sisay Lemma won the 2024 Boston Marathon after a daring solo run
• The Ethiopian broke ranks with the rest before the 10-kilometre mark
• Evans Chebet was forced to settle for third after back-to-back wins

Evans Chebet failed to defend his title in the 128th edition of the Boston Marathon on April 15, as Ethiopian Sisay Lemma destroyed the field to win the race.

Chebet was seeking to become only the second person this century to win three consecutive titles after triumphs in 2022 and 2023.

Lemma maintained ranks with the lead group that had Chebet and Moroccan Zouhair Talbi crossing the 5K mark at 14:21.

Inside Sisay Lemma's daring run

The Ethiopian, who has never finished higher than 30th in his two previous appearances in the Massachusetts capital, then surprisingly injected pace, leaving the rest in his wake. He crossed the 10K mark at 28:28, which was approximately 25 seconds quicker than Chebet.

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At 15K, Lemma extended his lead to 1:21, clocking 42:43 before crossing the halfway line of 21K at 01:00:19. For perspective, when the late Kelvin Kiptum broke the world record in Chicago last year, he crossed the halfway mark at 1:00:48.

Boston and Chicago are two different courses, but you get the drift.

The 33-year-old was inside the course record as he crossed the 25K mark at 01:11:44, which he still had at 30K(1:26:56). This gave him a 2-minute 48-second lead on the rest of the field.

Lemma's split at 35K was 1:42:56 but at this point, he had lost almost 30 seconds on the chasing group. At 40K, the split was 01:58:51, with the chase group closing in, but with no more space to run.

Mohamed Esa surprised Kenyan duo of Chebet and John Korir to take second place behind his compatriot Lemma. Lemma eventually crossed the line with 02:06:17 with his solo run eventually paying off.

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Hellen Obiri defends her title

In the women's race, Helen Obiri successfully defended her crown leading a 1-2-3 Kenyan sweep in intriguing fashion.

The race maintained its lead pack until the latter stages when Obiri, Sharon Lokedi and veteran Ednna Kiplagat chose to break away.

This is now Obiri's third marathon major in a row which sets up her nicely for the Paris Olympics if she gets the nod from Team Kenya selectors.

Rotterdam Marathon honours Kelvin Kiptum

Sports Brief had earlier reported that Abdi Nageeye won the 2024 Rotterdam Marathon. The Dutch star finished ahead of Ethiopia's duo Amedework Walelegn and Birhanu Legese.

The race was emotional as it was supposed to be Kelvin Kiptum's first stab at an attempt to run a competitive marathon in under two hours.

The world record holder passed on February 11 after a rod accident claimed his life alongside his coach Gervais Hakizimana.