Sharon Lokedi repeats as Boston Marathon champion, thanks to sizzling 14:48 5k split, McClain breaks American course record

Additional quick take analysis by the LetsRun.com staff

BOSTON (20-Apr) — Like in 2011, a strong tailwind blew from Hopkinton to Boston, propelling Kenyans John Korir (Asics) and Sharon Lokedi (Under Armour) to their second consecutive Boston Marathon titles. Korir, 29, used the tailwind to full advantage, blasting through the second half in a hard-to-believe 1:00:02 and crossing the finish line on Boylston Street in 2:01:52, smashing Geoffrey Mutai’s vaunted 2011 course record by more than a minute, the oldest course record in the Abbott World Marathon Majors. Lokedi, 32, made a late-race surge instead, running a sizzling 14:48 between the 35K and 40K marks to put the race away. She won in 2:18:51, the second-fastest winning time in the history of the race. Both athletes won $150,000 in prize money, and Korir pocketed an additional $50,000 for setting a new course record.

LOKEDI STAYED PATIENT

Sharon Lokedi repeats as Boston Marathon champion in 2026 (Kevin Morris photo)

The women took a gentle approach to the race today. American Susanna Sullivan led through both 5K (16:43) and 10K (33:31). That tempo was honest — 2:21:30 pace — but it was slow enough to allow 19 women to be part of the lead pack. Lokedi did her best just to stay relaxed.

“I was just like be patient, be patient,” she said.

A surprising face at the front of the lead pack was American Kodi Kleven. The two-time winner of the St. George Marathon in Utah came into this race with a 2:29:18 personal best and had only run 2:37:25 in last year’s Boston. She, along with compatriots Dakotah Popehn and Carrie Ellwood, led at the halfway point in 1:11:02, a two-minute personal best for Kleven. Sixteen women remained in the lead pack, including last year’s top American Jessica McClain.

“I was just kind of game for it to go out in any which way,” McClain said.

The real running didn’t start until about 30K (18.6 miles). The uphill 20th and 21st miles, which included Heartbreak Hill, went in 5:25 and 5:22, respectively. That’s when Lokedi decided it was time to show her cards. She ripped through the next three miles in 4:41, 4:48, and 4:35, respectively (14:48 for the 5 kilometers between 35K and 40K). That was just way too fast for Kenya’s Irine Cheptai and Loice Chemnung, who tried to stay close.

Lokedi, who was running with a borrowed watch because she forgot her own when she left her hotel this morning, wasn’t really aware of how fast she was going.

“This morning I forgot my watch,” she told reporters. She continued: “I didn’t know how fast I was going. I just wanted to go as fast as I could. I just wanted to get to the finish line as fast as possible.”

And that she did. With many fans calling her name as she sprinted down Boylston Street, she clinched her second Boston Marathon title by a comfortable 44-second gap.

“Everyone is cheering for me,” she said. “It felt so good.”

Chemnung held on for second in 2:19:35 and another Kenyan, Mary Ngugi-Cooper, took third in 2:20:07 in her seventh Boston Marathon. Mercy Chelangat, the 2025 Ottawa Marathon champion, took fourth in 2:20:30 while McClain took fifth in 2:20:49, the fastest time ever by an American at the Boston Marathon. She was also the top American last year.

“I just love Boston,” said McClain, 34, who lives in Phoenix, Ariz. “I wanted to come in and defend the American title.”

American record holder Emily Sisson finished ninth in her Boston Marathon debut. She clocked 2:22:39 off a 1:11:03 halfway split.

Back in 22nd place, Australia’s Lisa Weightman clocked 2:32:41. The 47-year-old four-time Olympian became the first runner in history to complete all seven commercial races of the Abbott World Marathon Majors plus the Olympic Games, World Athletics Championships, and Commonwealth Games. She was given her official WMM Six-Star medal for completing the Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York, and Tokyo Marathons. (Sydney has joined the WMM as well to make it 7).

Analysis below results

Top 30 2026 Boston Marathon Women’s Results

Tracking and results info here.

Quick Takes by LetsRun.com

Lokedi’s 35-40K segment was insane

On Friday night at the Bryan Clay Invitational, BYU’s Jane Hedengren ran 14:50 for 5,000 meters on the track to break the NCAA outdoor record. Lokedi covered the 5K segment from 35K to 40K in Boston today in 14:48. That section of the course is roughly 130 feet downhill, but it is an incredible feat and shows that there are levels to this sport. The top marathoners in the world — which Lokedi clearly is after winning her second straight Boston title — are incredible.

Lokedi’s 4:35 for the 24th mile (which, to be fair, is almost 100 feet downhill) is one of the more absurd splits we’ve ever seen in a marathon. There are very good men’s marathoners who never run that fast in a race. No other woman in the race had ever won a major marathon, which meant Lokedi, who won Boston last year and New York in 2022, was the clear favorite. She delivered, and then some.

Lokedi’s last-minute watch loan

Lokedi was about 20 minutes into the bus ride to the start line when she realized she didn’t have her watch. Her agent/coach Stephen Haas, riding with her, immediately began scrambling for a replacement, but there was a complication: it needed to be a Garmin, since Lokedi has a sponsorship with the brand.

Fortunately, he spotted Stephen Pifer, a former pro whom Haas’s agency had represented, wearing a Garmin. Pifer wasn’t racing — he was on the bus to support his wife — so he agreed to loan it to Lokedi.

With men’s champion John Korir also repeating, this was the first time since 1994-95 (Cosmas Ndeti and Uta Pippig) that the Boston Marathon had the same men’s and women’s champions in consecutive years.

Last year, Mary Ngugi-Cooper finished 11th in Boston and wondered if her career was over; since then she’s broken 2:20 for the 1st time and finished 3rd at Boston

Last year, after Mary Ngugi-Cooper finished 11th in Boston, she wondered if her career was over. Not even close. Since then, she’s broken 2:20 for the 1st time (2:19:26 in Chicago in marathon #10) and was back on the podium in Boston on Monday at age 37 (3rd place 2:20:07).

It’s Ngugi-Cooper’s third podium in Boston but her first since 2022, when she did it for the second year in a row.

Boston is clearly Ngugi-Cooper’s favorite marathon. Of her 11 career marathons, seven have come in Boston. To say Boston has a special place in Ngugi-Cooper’s heart would be an understatement. Ngugi-Cooper, who was married to 2008 Olympic marathon champion Sammy Wanjiru, got married to her second husband John Cooper in Boston prior to her finishing 2nd in 2021.

As for what marathon is next for Ngugi- Cooper, she’s hoping to return to Chicago and run another pb. And her training likely will be fueled by the LetsRun.com Track Talk podcast, which she said she listens to while training in the rain in the UK. She said Rojo is her favorite host but admitted she does enjoy Jonathan Gault’s Premier League talk.

Jess McClain adapted her strategy to the weather and was rewarded with the fastest time ever by an American woman in Boston

Jess McClain was rightfully pumped at the end of this one (Kevin Morris photo)

McClain was the top American in Boston for the second consecutive year, but took a different approach from 2025, when she was 7th in 2:22:43. Typically, McClain likes to run conservatively and make up ground in the second half, which is how she went from 16th at halfway last year to 7th at the finish. This year, she felt she had to be more aggressive and was with the lead pack until the pace started to pick up at 20 miles.

“The tailwind played into a lot of the approach,” McClain said. “You just don’t get these conditions every year. So if you’re going to full-send and carpe diem, this is the year to do it.”

McClain wound up running a negative split, 71:02-69:47, to finish 5th in 2:20:49, her best finish in a World Marathon Major and more than a minute faster than the previous course record of 2:22:02 set by Shalane Flanagan (also 5th) in 2014.

Seven of the top eight American women ran pbs

In part because the first-half split was only 71:02 — more than two minutes slower than last year — the times by the US women in Boston were not as crazy as those on the men’s side, which saw five men break 2:06 on Monday. But of the eight American women in the top 15, seven ran personal bests, most notably Carrie Ellwood, who took almost nine minutes off her pb of 2:31:51 from the 2021 Chicago Marathon.

It was also a good day for Minnesota Distance Elite, as teammates Annie Frisbie (8th in 2:22:00), Dakotah Popehn (12th in 2:24:04), and Elena Hayday (13th in 2:24:45) all ran pbs, with Frisbie and Popehn both tying their best career Boston finishes.

Sara Hall after running 2:31 at age 43

Talk about 2026 Boston on our world-famous messageboard / fan forum:

• Boston Talk: Official 2026 Boston Marathon LIVE Thread
• Jess McClain was out of the sport and now she’s the fastest American ever in Boston
• John MF Korir: I think he could have gone sub 2 today – 60:02 2nd half!!! 2:01:52 FTW!!!
• 2:03. Zouhair Overtakes Mantz as Top American
• Charles Hicks 2:04:35 under previous American Record held by Connor Mantz in his second marathon.
• Joe Klecker 2:05.56