Lemma ran alone for the majority of the race and crossed the finish line in a time of 2:06.17. This was the 10th fastest time in marathon history.
Champion in London in 2021, Lemma arrived in Boston with the best time of the entire peloton, becoming only the fourth person in history to lower the time of 2:02.00 when he triumphed in Valencia, the year last.
“I decided I wanted to go fast from the start,” explained Lemma, who had only one other career victory in a major marathon, in London. I kept the pace and I won.”
Evans Chebet, the two-time defending champion, was trying to become the first three-time winner since 2008. He finished third.
On the women’s side, Hellen Obiri defended her title, edging fellow Kenyan Sharon Lokedi by eight seconds. Obiri is the first woman to win the Boston Marathon two years in a row since 2005.
See also: Boston Marathon bombing: Quebecer Éric Hoziel remembers, ten years later
Earlier in the day, six-time champion Marcel Hug of Switzerland dominated the field of wheelchair athletes, even though he fell against a safety barrier. He finished the race in 1:15.33 to win his 14th major marathon in a row and 24th career.
On the women’s side, Briton Eden Rainbow-Cooper won the wheelchair event in 1:35.11, securing her first victory in a major marathon.
The New England town of Hopkinton was celebrating its 100th anniversary as the start line of the Boston Marathon, sending a field of 17 former champions and nearly 30,000 other runners on their way.
Near the finish on Boylston Street, officials observed a moment of silence over the 2013 bombing that left three people dead and hundreds injured.
The weather forecast showed minimal wind, sunny skies and temperatures reaching 15 degrees Celsius along the 42.2 kilometer route.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better day,” said former New England Patriots slotback Rob Gronkowski, the event’s grand marshal, before boarding an electric car that would transport him throughout the route. The city of Boston is always there to support people, no matter what the event. The temperature is ideal.”
The festivities began around six a.m., when race director Dave McGillivray sent out about 30 members of the Massachusetts National Guard.
The starting line was painted to read “100 Years in Hopkinton”, commemorating Ashland’s move to Hopkinton in 1924, to conform to the official Olympic marathon distance.
“In Hopkinton, it’s probably the ‘coolest’ thing in town,” said Maggie Agosto, a 16-year-old resident who went to the start line with a friend to watch the race.
The annual race held on Patriots’ Day, a national holiday that commemorates the start of the Revolutionary War, also falls on “One Boston Day,” when the city remembers the victims of the 2013 marathon bombings. At the finish line on Boylston Street, bagpipes accompanied Gov. Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and family members of the victims as they laid a pair of wreaths at the sites of the explosions.
Race volunteer Hank Lopez, 63, stood at his post near the starting line. He put on a bib and joined the race, taking part in his 100th marathon. He usually competes in marathons with far fewer runners. It was his first Boston Marathon.
“It’s the 100th anniversary of Hopkinton and the Boston Marathon and 100 marathons for me,” said Lopez, who ran several marathons this year to make sure the Boston marathon became his 100th. The marathon is world famous.”
The city, which is located about 26 miles west of Boston, was once again the gathering place for a peloton of nearly 30,000 runners preparing for this trek to Copley Square.
Associated Press reporter Jennifer McDermott contributed to this article
