John Korir Overcomes Fall at Start, Wins 2025 Boston Marathon in 2:04:45

BOSTON — Kenya’s John Korir overcame a fall at the start and used a 4:41 20th mile to blast away from the lead pack to win the 2025 Boston Marathon convincingly in 2:04:45, the second-fastest winning time in the race’s 129-year history. In the process of joining his brother Wesley (2012) as a Boston champion, he also staked a claim to the unofficial title of world’s best marathoner as he also convincingly won Chicago in the fall. 

There was a three-way battle for runner-up honors, which was claimed by Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu. Simbu, who twice has been top-10 in the Olympics but has only won one of his 24 career marathons, ran 2:05:04. Former Hamburg and Amsterdam winner Cybrian Kotut of Kenya took third, also credited with 2:05:04.

American Conner Mantz just missed the podium but ended up with a huge pb of 2:05:08 (2:07:47 previous pb). Boston isn’t technically eligible for pbs due to its point-to-point nature but today’s run was run into slight head/cross wind. Mantz started things fast, taking the field through the downhill first 5k in 14:20 and led again in the Newton Hills. Despite the fast pace, a lead pack of 16 men hit halfway in 1:01:52–54.

Two-time world 5000 champion Muktar Edris ran solidly in his marathon debut as he was 5th in 2:05:59. Mantz’s former BYU teammates Rory Linkletter (2:07:02) and Clayton Young (2:07:04) followed, with Linkletter outkicking Young for sixth. Young

Full analysis appears below. Additionally, check the homepage as we’ll have a separate article on Conner Mantz’s big run. *Top 30 results are here.

Is John Korir the best marathoner on planet Earth?

The death of Kelvin Kiptum and the decline of Eliud Kipchoge in recent years has left a void at the top of the men’s marathon world. Last year was the first time since 2012 that no man won more than one major in a year.

Korir has now won two majors in a row and both in dominant fashion. In Chicago, he won by nearly two minutes (1:56) in 2:02:43. Today, his winning margin ended up only being 19 seconds, but Korir blew this one open with a devastating move just before mile 20 and ended up leading by 59 seconds at 40k (24.85 miles).

The winner of Sunday’s London Marathon likely will want to lay a claim to the unofficial title of “Best Marathoner on Planet Earth,” but Korir, whom we ranked 5th last year, certainly has a claim. The top two in our world marathon rankings for last year (Benson Kipruto and Deresa Geleta) have already been beaten this year in Tokyo.

Haron Lagat, who coaches Korir along with Ron Mann, is extremely confident in Korir’s form right now. With Evans Chebet and Sisay Lemma, who have combined to win the last three Bostons, both in their mid-30s (both DNF’d today), it feels like today may have been a changing-of-the-guard moment. After Chicago, Korir bumped up his mileage to around 130 per week, and Lagat now feels he is in his prime.

“I feel like it’s his time,” Lagat said. “…We don’t know what’s next now. We don’t know if it’s time to go for the big one (the world record).”

MB: John Korir’s coach: “We don’t know what’s next now. We don’t know if it’s time to go for the big one (the WR)!”

Korir’s 21st mile was savage

Korir put his foot down on the accelerator just before mile 20 and by mile 21 he had 18 seconds on his closest competitior and 32 seconds on two-time champ Evans Chebet. The margin grew that large for a good reason — Korir was flying. He covered the 21st mile in 4:40, but please realize the 21st mile includes Heartbreak Hill and has a net elevation gain of roughly 75 feet. According to LetsRun coaching guru John Kellogg, a 75-foot gain elevation would slowly you down by roughly 18 seconds (2.4 seconds for every 10 feet). But the 21st mile in Boston isn’t a straight uphill, there is some downhill so it’s probably close to 20 seconds of a detriment. 

So Korir ran the equivalent of something close to 4:20 to break it open, which was the plan (and followed it up with a 4:24 on the downhill 22nd mile). As coach Lagat explained, “I think everyone realized from last year, when someone gets away, it’s hard to reel them back.”

John Korir’s brother Wesley was overjoyed to see his younger brother join him as a Boston champion. When Wesley won in 2012, John was just 15 years old and knew little about running, only that Wesley was fast.

“It motivated him,” Wesley said. “He didn’t know what marathon was, he didn’t know what it was, but now he’s a champion. We have been preparing for this for a long time.”

Education is hugely important to Wesley, who served as a member of parliament in Kenya from 2013-17, and as a result, John did not begin running competitively until he was out of high school his early 20s. Wesley went on to found Transcend Talent Academy, a school in Cherangany, Kenya (near Eldoret), the village where John did his Boston buildup. Transcend offers full scholarships to talented kids from needy backgrounds and Wesley said John will be donating 10% of his winnings — $15,000 — to the school.

Wesley also said that by winning Chicago (where Wesley’s best finish was 2nd) and Boston, John has now earned family bragging rights.

“I’ve been making fun of him and said no matter how fast you run, I’ll still be the champion until you win the Boston Marathon,” Wesley said. “Now, today, I can give him the crown.”

The Americans made history today with three at 2:08:00 faster

There were three Americans in the top 10 today as in addition to Mantz (2:05:08, 4th) and Young (2:07:04, 7th), unheralded Ryan Ford ran 2:08:00 to place 10th.

Mantz will deservedly get the headlines, but Young and Ford both deserve some love. Young did not have a smooth buildup, with a few disappointing half marathon results, and dealt with a calf cramp at 20 miles. Yet he took almost a minute off his 2:08:00 pb and tied his highest finish in a major (7th).

Ford, who runs for Zap Endurance, was 11th in NYC in his debut last fall in 2:11:08. Now he has a top-10 finish in a major and is one of the 10 fastest Americans ever, a rapid rise for the 27-year-old.

Ford ran for five years at the University of Tennessee-Martin, during which time he never qualified for NCAAs (his best finish in XC was 14th at the South Regional) and only qualified for regionals once (39th in the 10,000 in the East as a senior in 2021). He graduated with pbs of 14:07/29:20. But he had an extra year of eligibility due to to COVID and took it at Iowa State, where he finished 47th at NCAA XC and improved to 13:34/28:34 on the track. That still wasn’t enough to get much pro attention, but Zap noticed his improvement and took a chance on him.

Now he has a 60:59 half pb and 13:29/27:40 pbs on the track and finished 9th at the Olympic Trials in the 10,000, but after today it’s clear the marathon is his best event.

“I felt like I took my debut a little conservative and I really wanted to find my limit today,” said Ford, who was only 22nd at halfway (63:42) but moved up 12 places over the second half, which he ran in 64:18. “I made a big move in the middle section of the race, I ran a couple fast miles. It hurt, but it paid off.”

Ford does not have a sponsor and raced today in Puma’s new Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 shoes. He only received the shoes two days ago but decided to risk it and said they felt good on his feet.

“I thought it was exciting because a little bit of the hype, the buzz I was hearing,” Ford said. “…They felt good on strides, so I was like, well, let’s do it.”

Before today, only once had two Americans run 2:08:00 or faster in the same race. At 2023 Chicago, Mantz ran 2:07:47 and Young ran 2:08:00. After today’s race, 10 Americans in history have now run 2:08:00 or faster.

Updated all-time US Marathon list (all conditions)
Rank  Time      Runner              Race
1     2:04:58   Ryan Hall           2011  Boston
2     2:05:08   Conner Mantz       2025  Boston
3     2:05:38   Khalid Khannouchi   2002  Chicago
4     2:06:07   Galen Rupp          2018  Prague
5     2:06:53   Biya Simbassa      2024  Valencia
6     2:07:04   Clayton Young      2025  Boston
7     2:07:47   Dathan Ritzenhein   2012  Chicago
8     2:07:56   Leonard Korir       2019  Amsterdam
9     2:07:57   Matthew Richtman    2025  LA
10   2:08:00  Ryan Ford       2025  Boston

Past champs Evans Chebet and Sisay Lemma both ended up as DNFs

2022 and 2023 Boston champ Evan Chebet ran with the leaders through 20 miles and was still 6th at 23 miles. However, he ran mile 24 in 5:51 and ended up dropping out even though he recorded a 25.2-mile split. Last year’s winner Sisay Lemma was up front leading at both 10k and 15k today. Just before the 1:20:00 mark, he pulled to the side of the course to try to stretch out a camp and ended up dropping out shortly thereafter as he didn’t record a 30k split.

In the women’s race, Sharon Lokedi broke the course record.

You can listen to all of post-race interviews here.

Talk about the race on our messageboard:

1. Official 2025 Boston Marathon Thread
2. Connor MF Mantz
3. RORY MF LINKLETTER 2:07:02 ON BOSTON AND 6TH PLACE AND BEATS CLAYTON YOUNG
4. Des Linden 2:26:19 – impresses at Boston
5. Jess McClain will finish ahead of Dakotah
6. Who TF is Ryan Ford (American, 10th in Boston)?
7. LetsRunners how did your Boston go?

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