6 Thoughts on the 2025 Boston Marathon Professional Fields
Mantz and Young remain inseparable, Obiri chases a three-peat, and Kipchoge's quest to win every major appears dead
By Jonathan Gault
On Wednesday, the Boston Athletic Association announced the full professional fields for the 2025 Boston Marathon. Defending champions Hellen Obiri of Kenya and Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia are back, and half of the 2024 US Olympic marathon team will also be lining up in Hopkinton on April 21: Conner Mantz, Clayton Young, and Dakotah Popehn (formerly Lindwurm). Below, we have six quick takes on the fields; you can view the full list of entries in the Boston press release or at the bottom of this article.
1) Who’s #1?
Last year, the seven World Marathon Major races (Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York, Olympics) were won by seven different men. That was the first time since 2021 that there was no repeat winner. If you ignore the COVID years of 2020 and 2021 (only two majors were held in 2020, and a repeat was nearly impossible in 2021 considering every major was held from August to November), you would have to go back to 2012 — before Tokyo joined the series — for the first time no man won more than one major in a year.
That has left a vacuum at the very top of the event. The World #1 spot that belonged for so long to Eliud Kipchoge and briefly to Kelvin Kiptum before his tragic death last year now lies vacant. But a number of men in the mix for that honor are lining up in Boston, and a win there could strengthen their case.
Sisay Lemma is chief among them. After winning 2023 Valencia in 2:01:48 (#4 all-time) and 2024 Boston (which included a crazy 60:19 opening half), Lemma was set to be the favorite at last summer’s Olympics but withdrew just two weeks before the race with a hamstring injury. As a result of the injury, Lemma said he was “not completely ready” for his next marathon, Valencia in December 2024, where he ran 2:04:59 for 10th. But he promised to be back strong in 2025.
“I will be 100% ready next April because the Boston Marathon is a special event,” Lemma said in the B.A.A. press release.
Kenya’s John Korir is the other 2024 WMM winner among the Boston entries after he broke through to win Chicago last fall in 2:02:43. Korir was 4th in Boston last year and is the younger brother of 2012 Boston champ Wesley Korir; should John win in April, they would be the first pair of siblings to win Boston.
Kenya’s Evans Chebet, who won three straight majors in 2022-23 (Boston x 2, NY in 2022), remains a force deep into his marathon career — he was 3rd in Boston and 2nd in New York last year — but needs a win to vault him back into the World #1 conversation as he hasn’t tasted victory since 2023 Boston.
2) Obiri chasing three-peat
No runner has won three straight Boston Marathons since Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot from 2006-08, and no woman has done it in more than a quarter century — Ethiopia’s Fatuma Roba was the last from 1997-99. Hellen Obiri has a chance to change that this year, and will begin as the favorite after winning Boston in 2023 and 2024 and earning Olympic bronze in Paris in August.
Three recent major winners have the best shot at stopping her: Amane Beriso, the 2023 world champ and fifth-fastest woman in history (2:14:58 pb); Sharon Lokedi, the 2022 NYC champ; and Yalemzerf Yehualaw, 2022 London champ coming off a 2:16:52 course record in Amsterdam last fall. Beriso (in 2023) and Lokedi (in 2024) have both finished runner-up to Obiri in Boston and were right behind her in Paris last summer (Lokedi was 4th and Beriso 5th). Expect a close race once again, but know that a close finish favors the hard-kicking Obiri.
3) Conner Mantz and Clayton Young remained joined at the hip
Since the middle of 2023, training partners Conner Mantz and Clayton Young have been on largely the same schedule, running the same four marathons in that span. It has been working very well for them. Each time, they have finished as the top two Americans in the race, and each time they have finished just one place apart: 6th and 7th at 2023 Chicago, 1st and 2nd at the 2024 US Olympic Marathon Trials, 8th and 9th at the 2024 Olympics, and 6th and 7th at 2024 NYC. Mantz beat Young every time (although many think Young let him win the Trials) and has won seven of their eight matchups since the start of 2023.
Conner Mantz v Clayton Young since 2023
| Date | Race | Mantz | Young |
| 5/30/23 | Bolder Boulder 10K | 1st, 29:08 | 11th, 30:16 |
| 9/4/23 | US 20K champs | 2nd, 59:16 | 1st, 59:15 |
| 10/8/23 | Chicago Marathon | 6th, 2:07:47 | 7th, 2:08:00 |
| 2/3/24 | US Olympic Marathon Trials | 1st, 2:09:05 | 2nd, 2:09:06 |
| 5/27/24 | Bolder Boulder 10K | 1st, 29:13 | 7th, 29:39 |
| 8/10/24 | Olympic Marathon | 8th, 2:08:12 | 9th, 2:08:44 |
| 10/6/24 | Medtronic TC 10-Miler | 1st, 45:13 | 3rd, 46:07 |
| 11/3/24 | NYC Marathon | 6th, 2:09:00 | 7th, 2:09:21 |
| Head-to-head wins | 7 | 1 |
Mantz and Young were pretty much required to be on the same schedule during that span — both needed the Olympic standard in 2023 so they had to go to Chicago, and obviously both were going to run the Trials and Olympics. NYC offered a nice opportunity for a post-Olympic payday after not receiving an appearance fee at the Trials or Olympics.
At the end of last year, Mantz and Young suggested they may mix things up and target different races moving forward. But so far, that is not proving to be the case in 2025. Both are part of the elite field in the Houston Half Marathon on January 19, and both are now signed up to run Boston in April (Mantz was 11th in 2023; this is Young’s Boston debut).
This may be an example of the financial realities of the sport hitting home. Let’s say you’re Clayton Young and you’d like to get out of Mantz’s shadow and run a different 2025 spring marathon. Where, exactly, are you going? You could chase a fast time in Tokyo, London, or Rotterdam, but none of those races are going to pay a substantial appearance fee to a 2:08 marathoner (even one who finished 9th at the Olympics). Whereas Young is likely pulling in somewhere in the high five-figure range to run Boston. That’s a big difference, particularly for a father of two young children. Even if Young would like to run a different race this spring, there is a humongous financial incentive to run Boston — and the same goes for Mantz.
Overall, this is a very strong US field. In Mantz and Young, Boston has secured the two best marathoners in America, and CJ Albertson and Zach Panning, who also rank in the top five, are also in the 2025 Boston field.
4) The US women’s field is solid but there are some notable absences
Compared to the US men’s field, the US women’s field is not quite as strong, though part of that may be out of the control of elite field coordinator Mary Kate Shea. Emily Sisson was fried after last summer’s Olympics and may skip the spring marathon season to recharge her batteries. Olympic Trials champ Fiona O’Keeffe and 2021 Olympic medalist Molly Seidel are both working their way back from injuries and may not be ready to run a marathon yet. It’s more notable that the fastest American woman of 2024, Betsy Saina, also is not entered in Boston.
But there are still a number of recognizable names lining up. Dakotah Popehn, the top American in the Olympic marathon (12th), leads the way alongside Sara Vaughn (the top American in NYC last year), former American record holder Keira D’Amato, Olympic Trials 4th placer Jessica McClain, Emma Bates, and former Boston champion Des Linden.
One other name to keep an eye on is Jackie Gaughan. The 25-year-old Notre Dame alum was only 25th at the Olympic Trials and 24th in Chicago last year, but she finished 2nd at CIM in December, running 2:24:40 with a big negative split (74:19/70:21). There is serious potential there.
5) Eliud Kipchoge appears to have abandoned his quest to win every World Marathon Major
Eliud Kipchoge made a fast start to his marathon career. By the end of his third year of marathoning in 2015, he had already won Chicago, London, and Berlin, halfway to an unprecedented World Marathon Major “grand slam.” A few years later, Kipchoge said his goal was to become the first man to win all six majors. It was one of the most audacious goals in all of professional running — even great marathoners rarely win six majors in a career, let alone those specific six — but because it was Kipchoge, there was a chance.
Kipchoge added a win in Tokyo in March 2022, but it is looking very likely that Kipchoge will retire without winning either of the hilly majors, Boston and New York. He ran Boston in 2023, and it did not go well. He chose not to return in 2024 and was not announced as part of the pro field for 2025 either. And he still has never run New York.
Considering Kipchoge turned 40 in November (officially, anyway — many suspect he is older) and has begun to decline, if he were still serious about winning all six majors, he would be running Boston and New York every year to maximize his chances (we’ll give him a pass on Sydney, which was announced as the seventh WMM last year). Whether it is an acknowledgment that he is not as strong on hilly courses or he would rather just spend his final years running different races, his priorities appear to have shifted from winning them all to completing them all.
“Before I finish running competitively, I would love to finish the six,” he told Runner’s World in October.
6) Does this mean we will get a Chepngetich/Hassan/Assefa mega-showdown in London?
The Boston entries are also interesting not just for who is running there, but who is not — world record holder Ruth Chepngetich, Olympic champion Sifan Hassan, and Olympic silver medalist/second-fastest woman ever Tigst Assefa. That leaves open the possibility of a clash of the titans in London on April 27. Nothing is guaranteed at this point, but if any race has the money to get the three megastars together on one start line, it is London.
Talk about the 2025 Boston field on the world-famous LetsRun.com messageboard:
Full elite fields
2025 BOSTON MARATHON PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S DIVISION
WOMEN’S FIELD COUNTRY PERSONAL BEST
Amane Beriso ETH 2:14:58 (Valencia, 2022)
Yalemzerf Yehualaw ETH 2:16:52 (Amsterdam, 2024)
Irine Cheptai KEN 2:17:51 (Chicago, 2024)
Joan Melly ROU 2:18:04 (Seoul, 2022)
Keira D’Amato USA 2:19:12 (Houston, 2022)
Rahma Tusa ETH 2:19:33 (Houston, 2024)
Edna Kiplagat KEN 2:19:50 (London, 2012)*
Buze Diriba ETH 2:20:22 (Chicago, 2024)
Mary Ngugi KEN 2:20:22 (London, 2022)
Sara Hall USA 2:20:32 (Chandler, 2020)*
Bedatu Hirpa ETH 2:21:09 (Amsterdam, 2024)
Calli Hauger-Thackery GBR 2:21:34 (Berlin, 2024)
Hellen Obiri KEN 2:21:38 (Boston, 2023)
Emma Bates USA 2:22:10 (Boston, 2023)
Sharon Cherop KEN 2:22:28 (Berlin, 2013)*
Desiree Linden USA 2:22:38 (Boston, 2011)*
Sharon Lokedi KEN 2:22:45 (Boston, 2024)
Viola Chepngeno KEN 2:23:23 (Capetown, 2024)
Sara Vaughn USA 2:23:24 (Chicago, 2023)
Lindsay Flanagan USA 2:23:31 (Chicago, 2024)
Stacy Ndiwa KEN 2:23:42 (Chicago, 2024)
Gabi Rooker USA 2:24:29 (Chicago, 2024)
Kellyn Taylor USA 2:24:29 (Duluth, 2018)
Dakotah Popehn USA 2:24:40 (Chicago, 2023)
Jackie Gaughan USA 2:24:40 (Sacramento)
Nell Rojas USA 2:24:51 (Boston, 2023)
Cynthia Limo KEN 2:25:10 (Hamburg, 2024)
Lily Partridge GBR 2:25:12 (Valencia, 2023)
Angie Orjuela COL 2:25:35 (Berlin, 2023) NR
Jess McClain USA 2:25:46 (Orlando, 2024)
Lauren Hagans USA 2:25:47 (Chicago, 2024)
Tristin Colley USA 2:25:58 (Chicago, 2023)
Annie Frisbie USA 2:26:18 (New York City, 2021)
Stephanie Bruce USA 2:28:41 (Sacramento, 2024)*
Anne-Marie Blaney USA 2:29:25 (Chicago, 2024)
Annie Heffernan USA 2:30:26 (Sacramento, 2024)
Kodi Kleven USA 2:30:43 (St. George, 2024)
Hannah Lindholm SWE 2:31:18 (Seville, 2024)*
Lindsey Bradley USA 2:31:46 (Indianapolis, 2024)
Sarah Reiter USA 2:31:58 (Duluth, 2023)
Diana Bogantes CRC 2:32:08 (Valencia, 2023) NR
Jessie Cardin USA 2:33:34 (Chicago, 2022)
Ashlee Powers USA 2:33:40 (Twin Cities, 2024)
Kaylee Flanagan USA 2:34:03 (Berlin, 2024)
Mimi Smith USA 2:34:24 (Chicago, 2023)
Rachel Hannah CAN 2:34:33 (Toronto, 2024
Megan O’Neil USA 2:34:55 (St. Paul, 2024)
Anna Benedettini USA 2:35:12 (Valley Cottage, 2023)
Hailey Bowes USA 2:35:36 (Chicago, 2023)
Rena Elmer USA 2:35:45 (Duluth, 2024)*
Veronica Eder USA 2:35:46 (Orlando, 2024)
Claire Benjamin USA 2:35:53 (Sacramento, 2023)
Katerine Fleuhr USA 2:35:55 (Chicago, 2023)
Amanda Beach USA 2:35:59 (Indianapolis, 2024)
Abby McNulty USA 2:36:00 (Sacramento, 2023)
Sydney Devore USA 2:36:01 (NYC, 2023)
Stephanie Rouse USA 2:36:20 (Sacramento, 2023)
Brittney Hall USA 2:36:28 (Valley Cottage, 2023)
Lucy Dobbs USA 2:36:33 (Indianapolis, 2023)
Emily Sullivan USA 2:36:41 (NYC, 2024)
Tabor Hemming USA 2:36:59 (Sacramento, 2024)
Tammy Hsieh USA 2:37:00 (Sacramento, 2023)
Sarah Czuprynski USA 2:37:21 (Sacramento, 2024)
Erika Fleuhr USA 2:38:00 (Berlin, 2024)
Margaret Vido USA 2:38:06 (Sacramento, 2023)
Lianne Pagano USA 2:38:26 (Sacramento, 2023)
Allie Hackett USA 2:38:54 (Duluth, 2023)
Dot McMahan USA 2:38:34 (Orlando, 2024)*
Kate Bazeley CAN 2:39:30 (Toronto, 2024)*
Meriah Earle USA 2:39:46 (Orlando, 2024)*
Laurie Knowles USA 2:41:05 (Duluth, 2024)*
Melissa Perlman USA 2:42:50 (Chicago, 2025)*
April Lund USA 2:43:35 (Indianapolis, 2023)*
Amber Green USA 2:45:37 (St. George, 2023)*
Amber Thielbar USA 2:45:45 (North Bend, 2024)*
*Denotes Masters (40+) athlete
2025 BOSTON MARATHON PROFESSIONAL MEN’S DIVISION
MEN’S FIELD COUNTRY PERSONAL BEST
Sisay Lemma ETH 2:01:48 (Valencia, 2023)
John Korir KEN 2:02:44 (Chicago, 2024)
Evans Chebet KEN 2:03:00 (Valencia, 2020)
Cybrian Kotut KEN 2:03:22 (Berlin, 2024)
Haymanot Alew ETH 2:03:31 (Berlin, 2024)
Daniel Mateiko KEN 2:04:24 (Valencia, 2024)
Alphonce Felix Simbu TAN 2:04:38 (Valencia, 2024)
Lelisa Desisa ETH 2:04:45 (Dubai, 2013)
Victor Kiplangat UGA 2:05:09 (Hamburg, 2022)
Asefa Boki ETH 2:05:40 (Amsterdam, 2024)
Tebello Ramakongoana LES 2:06:18 (Xiamen, 2025) NR
Abel Kipchumba KEN 2:06:49 (Berlin, 2022)
Albert Korir KEN 2:06:57 (New York City, 2023)
Tsegay Weldlibanos ERI 2:07:25 (Sacramento, 2024)
Patrick Tiernan AUS 2:07:45 (Houston, 2024)
Conner Mantz USA 2:07:47 (Chicago, 2023)
Clayton Young USA 2:08:00 (Chicago, 2023)
Rory Linkletter CAN 2:08:01 (Seville, 2024)
CJ Albertson USA 2:08:17 (Chicago, 2024)
Amanuel Mesel ERI 2:08:17 (Valencia, 2013)
Erenjia Jia CHN 2:08:32 (Berlin, 2024)
Zach Panning USA 2:09:16 (Chicago, 2024)
Colin Bennie USA 2:09:38 (Chandler, 2020)
Reed Fischer USA 2:10:14 (Chicago, 2024)
Tesfu Tewelde ERI 2:10:21 (St. Paul, 2024)
Wesley Kiptoo KEN 2:10:28 (Chicago, 2023)
Johannes Motschmann GER 2:10:39 (London, 2024)
Nathan Martin USA 2:10:45 (Duluth, 2023)
Ryan Ford USA 2:11:08 (New York City, 2024)
Colin Mickow USA 2:11:22 (Chandler, 2020)
Turner Wiley USA 2:11:55 (Chicago, 2024)
Yemane Haileselassie ERI 2:11:59 (Honolulu, 2024)
Robert Miranda USA 2:12:07 (Sacramento, 2024)
Charlie Sweeney USA 2:12:23 (Chicago, 2024)
Will Norris USA 2:12:33 (St. Paul, 2024)
JP Flavin USA 2:12:34 (Chicago, 2024)
Joseph Whelan USA 2:13:29 (Duluth, 2019)
Ilie Corneschi ROU 2:13:39 (Berlin, 2022)
Erik Linden USA 2:14:15 (Sacramento, 2024)
Ryan Eiler USA 2:14:22 (Boston, 2024)
Josh Kalapos USA 2:14:26 (Orlando, 2024)
Lyle O’Brien USA 2:14:29 (Orlando, 2024)
Ben Kendell USA 2:15:11 (Chicago, 2024)
Jacob Heslington USA 2:15:12 (Orlando, 2024)
Primoz Kobe SLO 2:15:37 (Rotterdam, 2022)*
Tim McGowan USA 2:15:49 (Sacramento, 2024)
Andrew Bowman USA 2:15:50 (Pittsburgh, 2024)
Mason Jones USA 2:15:54 (Indianapolis, 2023)
Louis Serafini USA 2:15:55 (Duluth, 2022)
Yudai Fukuda JPN 2:15:57 (Gold Coast, 2024)
Thomas Toth CAN 2:15:57 (Valley Cottage, 2023)
Mitch Ammons USA 2:16:01 (Valley Cottage, 2023)
Hiroaki Furukawa JPN 2:16:14 (Kumamoto, 2024)
Grant O’Connor USA 2:16:17 (Boston, 2024)
Aaron Davidson USA 2:16:30 (Duluth, 2023)
Alex Milne GBR 2:16:30 (London, 2023)
Kevin Kirk USA 2:16:33 (Twin Cities, 2024)
Michael Blaszczyk USA 2:16:43 (Sacramento, 2023)
Joost Plaetinck USA 2:16:47 (Sacramento, 2023)
Kyle Johnson USA 2:16:59 (Duluth, 2024)
Prescott Leach USA 2:17:28 (Sacramento, 2023)*
Jesse Davis USA 2:17:30 (Indianapolis, 2023)*
Dustin Bybee USA 2:19:48 (St. George, 2023)*
Jonathan Kotter USA 2:20:08 (St. George, 2023)*
David Cisewski USA 2:20:53 (Chicago, 2023)*
Juan Vidal Ribero ESP 2:22:14 (Valencia, 2023)*
Sam Morse USA 2:22:15 (Boston, 2024)*
Pablo Villalobos Bazaga ESP 2:22:32 (Seville, 2024)*
Iain Hunter USA 2:23:45 (St. George, 2023)*
Muktar Edris ETH Debut / 1:00:52 HM
Barry Keane IRL Debut/ 1:02:35 HM
