Boston Marathon impact: Eliud Kipchoge adds third career loss in 42.192 kilometers

The 127th edition of the Boston Marathon, which took place this Monday in that American city, had several special toppings. Because it commemorated the tenth anniversary of the attack that shocked the world: in 2013 two homemade bombs exploded near the door, causing three deaths. And because it marked the first test participation, the oldest in the world in that distance, of Eliud Kipchoge, one of the best distance runners in the history of athletics. But the debut of the 38-year-old Kenyan was not positive, as he added the third defeat in his career in a 42.192 km race.

The two-time Olympic champion and world record holder (2h01m09 in Berlin on September 25), who arrived with a record of 17 victories in 19 marathons, showed his more human side in a race marked by the cold (just 10°C) , 93 percent humidity, lots of rain, lots of fog and headwinds. And he finished sixth, with a time of 2h09m23.

The winner was his compatriot Evans Chebetwho defended last year’s title with a time of 2h05m54.

Kipchoge, Olympic gold Rio de Janeiro 2016 AND Tokyo 2020arrived in Boston with a clear goal: to win his fifth greater and take one more step to complete the victory milestone of the “Big Six”. It already has in its windows the trophies of Berlin (where he won four times), London (4), Chicago AND Tokyo. A celebration on the streets of the Massachusetts town left him with only one unfinished business: New York. However, she walked away empty handed.

The Kenyan – who had been preparing for the test on the “Boston Circuit”, a track created in his country to emulate the hills that characterize this city – showed his best form during the first kilometres. He took the lead at the start and authoritatively led around 10 riders at the halfway mark in 1h02m19. And he still seemed to be in control of the event when the lead pack began to thin out after about 15 miles, the pace picking up as Boston’s undulating course descended.

But the story began to change when at kilometer 30 when the Tanzanian Gabriel Geay, who finished second with 2h06m04) made a great movement that broke Kipchoge’s resistance. And when the group in front followed in Geay’s footsteps, Kipchoge – who at that point in the race passed through a hydration station, but was unable to get a bottle – immediately fell behind, almost several meters from the head.

Geay held the lead until the 34km mark when Chebet stole the lead to secure his sixth win at this distance. The first was achieved in Buenos Aires in 2019, when he won with 2h05m and set a record for the Argentine event that is still valid today.