HOPKINTON-TO-BOSTON, Massachusetts, April 21 — Last August in the Paris Olympic Marathon, Sharon Lokedi lost a sprint for the bronze medal to Kenyan compatriot Hellen Obiri. At Boston ’24, the finish order was Obiri-Lokedi 1-2.
Heading into the Boylston Street finishing stretch at Boston this time, Lokedi was determined to flip that script. She told herself, “I’m just not going to let her take it today.”
With a powerful surge over the final kilometer, Lokedi — the NCAA 10,000 champ for Kansas back in 2018 — was able to dispatch her rival and take the win in a course record 2:17:22.
“I’m so excited,” Lokedi exclaimed. “Winning today felt so good and it was amazing when I crossed and saw the time. I still can’t believe it!”
Running nearly 6 minutes faster than her 2:23:14 PR run in Paris, Lokedi led Obiri (2nd in 2:17:41) and Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw (3rd in 2:18:06) under Buzunesh Deba’s 2:19:59 course record run in 2014.
Kenyan Irine Cheptai finished 4th in 2:21:32, with Budapest world champion Amane Beriso 5th in 2:21:58. Great Britain’s Calli Thackery crossed 6th in 2:22:38 just ahead of top Americans Jess McClain (7th, 2:22:43) and Anne Frisbie (8th, 2:23:21).
The 31-year-old Lokedi has grown accustomed to racing the 35-year-old Obiri as the two have squared off in all six marathons that each of them has run. Lokedi took their 2022 debut marathon with a stunning win in NYC, then Obiri swept the next four including wins in Boston 2023 and 2024, NYC 2023 and the bronze medal duel in Paris.
The two have developed a friendly rivalry. Lokedi said of this race, “it was a tough one out there and I’m just so glad that we had each other. She’s like a really good competitor. I’m always second to her and I’m just so grateful that she got to push me all the way through.”
With near-perfect cool and calm weather, the race got off to an uncharacteristically quick start. “This year the pace was hot from the start,” Lokedi said. “That played out well because it was like go, go, go, and it helped all of us to run so fast.”
Perhaps Boston’s downhill start is less intimidating in the era of super shoes and the women got right after it with 14 running 49:10 for the opening 15K, a heady 2:18:18 pace. That was fast but not fast enough for Beriso and Yehualaw, who leaned into the tempo, cranking…
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