Geoffrey Kirui and Edna Kiplagat posted a Kenyan sweep of the top spots in Monday’s Boston Marathon.
Both were making their Boston Marathon debuts.
Kirui pulled away from American Galen Rupp at mile 21 and held on the rest of the way to win in 2:09:37. Rupp finished second.
Kiplagat had a convincing victory. The 37-year-old has five career marathon victories, including New York and London, but Monday was her Boston debut. Her time was 2:21:52.
Kiplagat led briefly at mile 13, then took the lead for good at mile 18.
Rose Chelimo of Bahrain was second, 59 seconds behind Kiplagat, and Americans Jordan Hasay and Desiree Linden finished third and fourth.
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Marcel Hug and Manuela Schar, both of Switzerland, swept the men’s and women’s wheelchair races, both winning in course record times.
Hug outdueled Ernst Van Dyk down the stretch on Boylston Street. It was Hug’s third straight victory in Boston. Hug’s unofficial time was 1 hour, 18 minutes and 4 seconds, a course record.
Schar finished all alone in an unofficial time of 1:28:16.
The previous record for men – 1:18:25 – was set by Joshua Cassidy of Canada in 2012. The previous women’s record was 1:34:06 by Wakako Tsuchida of Japan in 2011.
“I’m really happy. It was a Swiss day,’’ Hug said.
Competitors had high temperatures to deal with Monday, but they also got a strong tailwind too, too. Temperatures hit 70 degrees under mostly sunny skies when the elite women left the start in Hopkinton.
It was 69 and warming at the halfway point in Wellesley and expected to be up to 72 degrees by the time the runners reached the finish in Boston’s Back Bay.
A tailwind of 13 m.p.h. gave competitors a push at the start, and gusts were expected of up to 30 mph. A strong tailwind and cooler temperatures in 2011 helped Geoffrey Mutai finish in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 2 seconds. That was the fastest marathon in history at the time, though not a world record because the Boston course does not qualify for world records.
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The world record is 2:02:57, set by Kenyan runner Dennis Kimetto in Berlin in 2014.
An Associated Press report was included in this story. Follow Matt Pepin on Twitter at @mattpep15.