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       lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
       
       
       ARTICLE VIEW: 
       
       Ethiopia’s Sisay Lemma wins first Boston Marathon title, while Hellen
       Obiri retains her crown following thrilling finish
       
       By Ben Morse and George Ramsay, CNN
       
       Updated: 
       
       10:07 PM EDT, Mon April 15, 2024
       
       Source: CNN
       
       Sisay Lemma won his first Boston Marathon title on Monday, finishing
       with a time of 2:06:17 in the men’s race, while Hellen Obiri of Kenya
       retained her 2023 title in the women’s race.
       
       Lemma, who is the after his 2:01:48 finish in the Valencia Marathon
       last month, set the early pace, racing into a big lead.
       
       And although the chasing pack closed the gap on Lemma as the race
       progressed, the 33-year-old was able to hold on for his second major
       marathon victory after winning the 2021 London Marathon.
       
       The result cements him as one of the favorites to win gold at the Paris
       Olympics later this year.
       
       Lemma finished 41 seconds ahead of Mohamed Esa in second and one minute
       and five seconds ahead of double-defending champion Evans Chebet in
       third.
       
       The top performing men’s runner from the US was CJ Albertson who
       finished in seventh with an unofficial time of 2:09:53.
       
       Shortly afterwards in the women’s race, it all came down to a
       thrilling finish between reigning champion Obiri and former New York
       City Marathon champion Sharon Lokedi.
       
       The pair were neck-and-neck throughout the final few miles, only for
       Obiri to sneak ahead and retain her crown by a narrow margin of eight
       seconds after finishing with a time of 2:22:37.
       
       Obiri, 34, is the first woman to win back-to-back Boston Marathons
       since Catherine Ndereba accomplished the feat in 2004 and 2005. She
       also won the New York Marathon in November last year.
       
       The top performing US women’s runner was Emma Bates who finished with
       an unofficial time of 2:27:14.
       
       Earlier in the day, Britain’s Eden Rainbow-Cooper secured her first
       major marathon victory with a time of 1:35:11, finishing 90 seconds
       ahead of Switzerland’s Manuela Schär to win the women’s wheelchair
       event.
       
       In doing so, the 22-year-old became the the Boston Marathon’s
       wheelchair race and also the first British winner of any of the
       event’s elite races since Geoff Smith won the elite men’s race in
       1985.
       
       “It really took everything to get that win. It was such a mentally
       tough challenge. Pushing a marathon on your own is so difficult. I only
       started [the marathon] two years ago, and I have put absolutely
       everything into it, and I really can’t believe this,”
       Rainbow-Cooper afterwards.
       
       “I just had my head down for the whole race and was just focusing on
       my own race. I had absolutely nothing left at the end, but the crowd
       carried me through.
       
       In the men’s wheelchair event, Switzerland’s Marcel Hug won the
       men’s wheelchair race, the seventh time he’s done so, with a time
       of 1:15:33 despite crashing midway through the race.
       
       Hug, nicknamed ‘the Silver Bullet,’ broke his own course record on
       the way to victory with the multiple-time Paralympic gold medalist
       continuing his dominant run in major world marathons.
       
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