Sharon Lokedi Shatters Boston Marathon Course Record, Denies Hellen Obiri A 3-Peat

*John Korir joined his brother as a Boston winner on the men’s side.

Quick Takes from Joseph Carroll

Sharon Lokedi learns from past Boston experience, Obiri forced to run honest

In 2024, Hellen Obiri was able to make a strong move on Sharon Lokedi in the final mile, putting eight seconds on her to repeat as Boston Marathon champion. This year Lokedi made it a point to not leave it down to a sprint, and instead make a hard move just around mile 24 that turned a three-woman race into a match race. Although Obiri was able to hang around for a little while, even trying to take the lead at Kenmore Square, Lokedi was able to eventually break her, putting 19 seconds on Obiri over the final mile as she stayed on the gas the entire way. Lokedi ran 4:57 pace for her final 1.2 miles, which proved too much for Obiri, who hung on for second.

Lokedi said that she took a page out of Obiri’s playbook and started pressing at the same spot that Obiri started to tighten the screws last year. Lokedi trusted her plan to stay patient and tried to remember to stay strong when she made her move. Lokedi’s record against Obriri was previously 1-4, with Obiri taking the last four races. Three of those four races ended with Obiri beating Lokedi in close finishes of less than 10 seconds. Remembering this, Lokedi said that she just tried to stay strong today because she knew that Obiri’s kick was coming (although it never would actually come). The pair joked in the press conference about now each having their own Boston title.

Lokedi said that one of the keys today was to keep herself attached to a quickly paced pack, and to make sure that she did not panic when closing gaps, making sure to do so slowly, taking the race kilometer by kilometer. Lokedi was able to break Obiri the first move that she made, and said that closing hard has been a point of emphasis in practice and that she was happy to have something left in the tank.

After being beaten by Obiri so many times before, Lokedi wanted to go into today with the mindset to keep fighting no mater what happened. She appreciated the fact that lots of people did work early, such as Amane Beriso who was the one pushing the pace most of the race, which likely tired out Obiri. Lokedi was thrilled with the victory and said that it will “really help (her)” going forward. She’s now in an elite group of women to win both Boston and New York.

Obiri has to run quick

Obiri, who is one of the best marathoners in the world, has never been forced to run an honest pace from the gun in any of her majors. She instead relies on having a great kick in the last miles, something that she did not have today. Lokedi’s winning time of 2:17:22 was 5:15 quicker than what Obiri’s 2:22:37 winning time from last year, which was also Obiri’s pb before today. Obiri being a top marathoner with a PB that was over 10 minutes off of the world record was always a bit strange, and today she brought her PR in line with what the rest of the world’s top women have run.

The fact that today’s times were so fast — Lokedi and Obiri both ran more than two minutes under the previous 2:19:59 course record — should not come as a massive surprise. Before today, the course records in Boston (2014) and New York (2:22:31 from 2003) dated from before the supershoe era yet endured because many of the top women were not interested in running fast without pacers.

Today three women shattered the course record with two more dipping under 2:22, the winning time from last year, which shows what happens when you get decent weather and a field willing to go for it.

Quick Take: It was a Mixed Bag for the American Women

The Good

The good news for the American women was that they had two women in the top eight. The identity of those women was a bit of a surprise, however. Jess McClain and Annie Frisbie both had big days to come in 7th and 8th respectively, both running BIG pbs (3:03 and 2:57) of 2:22:43 and 2:23:21. 

Jess McClain Takes a Big Step

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This concludes a very nice winter and spring for McClain, who seems to just get better and better as the distance goes up, having run PRs in her last three races at 5k, 10k and half marathon and finishing in 4th at the U.S. half champs just a few weeks ago.

McClain, who has finished just off a number of U.S. teams (4th at the Olympic Trials in the 10k and marathon last year) now sits firmly in the mix of top American marathoners. McClain said that today’s result was expected and felt a big reason why was her decision to hang off the aggressive pace set by the leaders. She said that it was “really hard” to hang back and exercise restraint but was able to make use of all the work she had done on hills in training during the back half, moving up from 16th at 25k to 7th by the finish.

McClain, who took some time away from the sport during COVID and was just recently picked up by sponsor Brooks, has a lot going on in life. Even though she is now sponsored, she still works a full-time job as executive director for the Love Pup Foundation in Phoenix, a non-profit shelter and rescue. Between this and the Phoenix heat, she has had to do a lot of 4:40 am workouts. She says that she likes having balance in her life but that is something that she will need to look at going into LA 2028, when she will be 36.

In her previous builds, McClain was self-coached, but she has been coached by David Roche since November. McClain said she had a lower -mileage, speed- based buildup for Boston, running mostly 70-75 miles per week (her highest was just 82) while only doing one workout and long run a week. She hopes to max out her mileage a bit more and thinks that she has a much higher ceiling (which we agree with). 

Annie Frisbie Comes out of Left Field 

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The bigger surprise was Annie Frisbie coming a spot behind McClain in 8th place. Frisbie has not had an ideal spring leading into the race, running 1:13:31 at the US half champs (on pace for over three minutes slower than she ran today), good for 15th place. She has only once finished in the top 10 of a major, placing 7th in New York back in 2021, but has not been able to have that success as of late, running 2:27 and 2:28 the past few years.

She took lots off that PR today, running 2:23:21, and attributes it to her fitness coming around in the last month. She said that her body felt good on the day and tried to hang with her pack as long as she could. She had a bit of a rocky build up coming off of an upper hamstring tear, and said it took a while to get stronger and back into things. She thinks that she struggled a bit on the uphills as her strength is not exactly where she would have liked it, but that she was able to use the downhills well to recover, which she was happy about. She says that she is excited to continue to attack her PR in a fall marathon. 

Des Linden Says Goodbye 

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It was also a nice farewell for Des Linden, the 2018 Boston Marathon champion who this morning announced her retirement from professional marathoning with a full-page ad in the Boston Globe, thanking Boston for being behind her all these years. Linden, now 41, finished in 17th place in 2:26:16, her quickest time since her 2017 race in Boston. Linden was able to reminisce on amazing career in the post-race press conference, and called her retirement just a retirement from pro marathoning — she plans to keep going on the trails.

The Bad

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In the pre-race press conference, Emma Bates talked about “going for the win,” Dakotah Popehn talked about being in the best shape of her life, and Sara Hall said she had one of her best builds ever. LetsRun readers pegged those three, along with Keira D’Amato with a 91% chance to be the top American woman. We did not even have any other named options in our poll.

At the end of the day none of these women would end up being either of the top two American women. To be frank, it was a bad day for a group of women who all likely wanted to be in the top 10. Bates was 13th in 2:25:10 (two minutes faster than last year but a place lower), Popehn was 16th in 2:26:09, Hall was 18th in 2:26:32 (at age 42), while former AR holder D’Amato was well back in 35th in 2:35:57.

Bates’ comments about going for the win surprised us at the time, and she did not back up her talk, getting dropped from the top pack by 10k after the field went out at an aggressive pace. Bates’ time of 2:25:10 would usually put her squarely in the top 10, but on a day where the pace was hot with good conditions, it was a far way away from what was needed to be competitive.