Nairobi — World Record holder Eliud Kipchoge’s hopes of becoming the first man to win all six of the World Majors suffered a dent on Monday evening as he lost the bid to clinch the Boston Marathon title on debut, Evans Chebet defending his crown with a calculated run.
The defending champion clocked 2:05:54 for back to back titles, as 2021 champion Benson Kipruto finished third in 2:06:06 as Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay finished second in 2:06:04 after beating him with a sprint finish.
Chebet became the first person in 15 years to win back to back titles in Boston, and overall becomes the sixth person in history to do so.
The last person to win back to back titles was Kenyan Robert Cheruiyot who won in 2007 and 2008.
Kipchoge looked to be struggling in the early wet, windy and humid conditions in Boston and dropped off the leading pack with about 10km left, a leading pack of about five athletes pulling away.
His efforts at putting up a fight to narrow the gap which was growing didn’t end up successful, and with five kilometres left, it was clear that the battle was between defending champion Chebet, predecessor Kipruto and Tanzanian Geay.
He ended up strutting home at sixth spot, clocking 2:09:23, the slowest marathon time in his career.