Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia (2013) and Wesley Korir of Kenya (2012), Meb Keflezighi’Master the Half Boston Marathon champions, will join the previously announced Keflezighi in the 119th Boston Marathon on April 20. Kenyans Sharon Cherop and Caroline Kilel, Boston winners in 2012 and 2011, respectively, will return for the women's competition.
The men’s field will also include Kenya’s two-time world champion Abel Kirui; former world record holder Patrick Makau (2:03:38), who won the Fukuoka Marathon in December; Wilson Chebet, the 2014 Boston runner-up to Keflezighi; and Ethiopia’s Gebre Gebremariam, the 2010 Best Songs for Sprinting The Best Shoes at the 2024 Boston Marathon.
Desisa is, after Makau, the second fastest marathoner in the field, with a 2:04:45 best, and was the 2013 World Championships silver medalist and the runner-up in New York City last November. His countrymen Yamene Tsegay and Tadese Tola come to Boston with personal bests of 2:04:48 and 2:04:49, respectively. Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea, whose marathon exploits have not yet matched his prowess as world half marathon record holder, will make his Boston Marathon debut.
Along with 2004 Olympic silver medalist Keflezighi, whose 2014 Boston victory was the first by an American man in 31 years, the participation of Dathan Ritzenhein, Jeffrey Eggleston, and Nick Arciniaga of the United States had been previously announced.
The women’s field is Boston’s fastest ever, with ten entrants having best times under 2:23, led by Ethiopians Mare Dibaba (the Xiamen Marathon champion in China on January 3 and the 2014 Chicago runner-up), Buzunesh Deba (2:19:59), and Aberu Kebebe (2:20:30), a two-time Berlin Marathon champion.
Deba, Boston’s 2014 runner-up, could move up to the champion's spot if Rita Jeptoo, the 2014 Boston victor who tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test last September, is punished by Athletics Kenya with the forfeiture of last April’s laurels.
The American women previously announced for Boston include Shalane Flanagan, whose third-place 2:21:14 in Berlin last September makes her the fourth fastest woman in the field; 2011 Boston-runner-up Sales & Deals; and Amy Hastings, the 2012 Olympic 10,000-meter runner who was the top American finisher at Chicago in October.
Results
