Fast and Flat Boston Qualifying Marathons, Evans Chebet of Kenya won the 2023 Boston Marathon men’s title in 2:05:54. Chebet is the first man to win consecutive Bostons since Robert Cheruiyot in 2008.
Gabriel Geay of Tanzania ran 2:06:04 to place second. Kipruto, the 2021 Boston winner, placed third in 2:06:06.
World record-holder Eliud Kipchoge led for the first 19 miles but fell off almost immediately when Geay surged early in the 20th mile. Kipchoge placed sixth in 2:09:23, the slowest marathon of his career.
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Here’s a full breakdown of the 2023 Boston Marathon men’s race.
The Winner
Wasn’t it that great marathoner Teddy Roosevelt who said, “Speak softly and carry a big kick?” That’s certainly the Evans Chebet way.
The 34-year-old Kenyan won his third consecutive World Marathon Major (after Boston and New York City in 2022) with his usual unmatchable late-race push. His competitive ferocity is perhaps matched only by his quiet, unassuming demeanor. “I never dreamed I’d be racing against Eliud Kipchoge in the Boston Marathon,” Chebet told Runner’s World Eliud Kipchoge, Kenya, 2:09:23, $13,500. When asked whether today’s was the greatest win of his career, Chebet’s entire answer was, “Yes.”
Chebet and his training partner Kipruto (the 2021 Boston and 2022 Chicago winner) were content to let Kipchoge do the early leading. Things went according to the alpha-Kipchoge script through 19 miles: Kipchoge set the pace, decided where in the road to run, and was usually inches ahead of everyone else, even when the fast early miles (28:52, fast enough to break the 2:03:02 course record), slowed to just a little quicker than 5:00 per mile. If you didn’t know to watch for Chebet, you could have missed him as the pack hit halfway in 1:02:19.
Only around the 25-kilometer mark did the men most likely to challenge Kipchoge start to flit toward the front. Chebet joined Kipchoge briefly, albeit from the other side of the road’s yellow dividing line. Then Geay pushed the pace, resulting in a 4:23 16th mile. (It’s primarily a downhill mile before the Newton hills, but still.) A pack of seven started tackling the hills together.
Geay was again the aggressor just after the 19-mile mark, and this time he did significant damage. He briefly held a 4-second lead, with Chebet part of a four-man chase pack that patiently pulled him back. Significantly, though, Kipchoge wasn’t in that pack. Instead, as the leaders started climbing the third of the four Newton hills, Kipchoge was alone in seventh.
Chebet later said he didn’t know that Kipchoge had fallen back so quickly, and by so much. (He lost 19 seconds to the leaders in the 20th mile.) But Chebet certainly ran like he was trying to break not just Kipchoge, but everyone. He pushed hard up Heartbreak Hill. By the top, only Geay and Kipruto remained as potential challengers.
The lead changed a few times over the next few miles. Geay and Chebet would occasionally slightly gap the other, but everyone was too tired from the fast opening pace to risk pushing too hard. When Kipruto won Boston in 2021, he covered from 35K to 40K in 14:06. Last year, Chebet did even better, running an absurd 13:55 for that 5K stretch. Today, the three leaders, looking a little punch drunk, split 14:55 for the same 5K. Chebet didn’t break the other two for good until the final mile.
Through a translator, Chebet said afterward that he and Kipruto had planned to work together in the hope that one would win. “Confidence in the quality of our training made us feel good about our chances,” he said.
What Happened to the GOAT?
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Kipchoge entered the race as the favorite, which comes with the territory when you’ve won 17 of 19 marathon starts, have two Olympic gold medals, are the world record-holder, and, for good measure, have twice run 26.2 miles faster than your own world record. Kipchoge has said that he wants to win all six World Marathon Majors (he has won all but Boston and New York City), and he also sparked talk of Geoffrey Mutai’s course record of 2:03:02, set in 2011, finally being broken.
Nonetheless, Kipchoge’s appearance in Boston came with an asterisk or two. Yes, he broke his own world record in September. But he is 38, and has competed uninterrupted at the world-class level for 20 years. (He was the 2003 world champion at 5,000 meters.) Also, almost all of his marathons have been on flat courses with pacers. His two Olympic wins were, like Boston, in races without pacers, where place matters more than time. Yet those courses were mild compared to the constant ups and downs of Boston’s legendary route.
As often happens in marathons, when things started to go badly for Kipchoge, they did so suddenly, and significantly. When eventual second finisher Geay surged just after the 19-mile mark, Kipchoge lost contact immediately. He was not being cagey. He was simply being left behind by younger pros eager to prove themselves against a legend.
Kipchoge fell as far back as eighth place in the 24th mile, but closed gamely to move up to sixth by the finish.
After finishing, Kipchoge was seen limping slightly and seemed to be pointing at his right foot as he walked through the lobby of the Copley Hotel, which serves as race headquarters. He was not brought to the media center next to the lobby to answer questions.
In a statement provided to the media on Monday afternoon, Kipchoge said, “Today was a tough day for me. I pushed myself as hard as I could, but sometimes we must accept that today wasn’t the day to push the barrier to a greater height.”
Kipchoge also said in the statement, “In sports, you win and you lose, and there is always tomorrow to set a new challenge. Excited for what’s ahead.”
Fauble Again Leads U.S. Men
For the second year in a row, Scott Fauble was the top U.S. man at the Boston Marathon. He placed seventh in 2:09:44, one place and 21 seconds behind world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge.
Matthew McDonald was the second U.S. finisher, placing tenth in 2:10:17, an improvement over his 14th-place finish here last year. Conner Mantz was the third U.S. man across the line, placing 11th in 2:10:25. Mantz ran with the lead pack through 19 miles, when a strong move by eventual runner-up Gabriel Geay of Tanzania broke the race open.
CJ Albertson was the only U.S. man besides Mantz to run with the leaders early on. He lost contact in the 16th mile and finished 12th in 2:10:33.
Other U.S. men in the top 20: Nico Montanez, 13th in 2:10:52; JP Flavin, 17th in 2:13:27; Turner Wiley, 18th in 2:13:57; and Chad Hall, brother of U.S. course-record holder Ryan Hall, 20th in 2:14:13.
For more details on how the U.S. men did, read this.
The Top 10
- Evans Chebet, Kenya, 2:05:54, $150,000
- Ice vs Heat for Injuries
- Benson Kipruto, Kenya, 2:06:06, $40,000
- Albert Korir, Kenya, 2:08:01, $25,000
- DAA Industry Opt Out
- Master the Half
- Scott Fauble, U.S., 2:09:44, $10,500
- For more details on how the U.S. men did, read
- John Korir, Kenya, 2:10:04, $7,000
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Scott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times. Much of his writing translates sport science research and elite best practices into practical guidance for everyday athletes. He is the author or coauthor of several running books, including Advertisement - Continue Reading Below, Advanced Marathoning, and Hassan Chahdi, France, 2:09:46, $8,500. Scott has also written about running for Slate, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and other members of the sedentary media. His lifetime running odometer is past 110,000 miles, but he’s as much in love as ever.
