By Audrey Martin
Boston University News Service
The 126th Boston Marathon has its winners. Finishing first was the United States’ Daniel Romanchuk, 23, and Switzerland’s Manuela Schär, 37, winning the men’s and women’s wheelchair race respectively, while Kenya’s Evans Chebet, 33, and Peres Jepchirchir, 28, collected top honors for the men’s and women’s elite race respectively, themselves.
Kicking off the marathon at 9:02 a.m., the men’s elite wheelchair race was led by Hiroki Nishida, Daniel Romanchuk and Aaron Pike. Around the 10K mark, Nishida was long passed by Romanchuk and Pike, though it was Romanchuk who secured the win at approximately 10:30 a.m. with a time of 1:26:58.
The women’s elite wheelchair took off at 9:05 a.m. with defending champion Schär leading the pack. Schär went on to secure the win for the second time in a row, crossing the finish line at 10:47 a.m. with a time of 1:41:08.
The men’s elite race took off at 9:37 a.m., with the United States’ CJ Albertson leading a 20-man pack through the 13-mile mark with a time of 1:03:25. Albertson was eventually passed by Chebet, who, with a time of 2:06:51, crossed the finish line at 11:44 a.m., winning the men’s elite race.
This is Chebet’s first World Marathon Majors podium finish since he placed third in the BMW Berlin Marathon in 2016.
The elite women’s race began at 9:45 a.m., and by the halfway point, the pack was led by Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei, Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh and Jepchirchir. Molly Seidel, the top American, was in 11th place at the 13-mile mark before dropping out of the race between the 25K-30K mark.
Jepchirchir pulled off the win, crossing the finish line at 12:06 p.m. with a time of 2:21:01, the third fastest winning time for women in Boston Marathon history.
For para athlete runners, Chaz Davis, from the United States, finished first in the men’s T11/T12 division with a time of 02:45:45.
Brazil’s Ary Carlos Santos finished first in the men’s T13 division with a time of 02:46:37.
Joyce Cron, from the United States, finished first in the women’s T11/T12 division with a time of 04:31:36. Lisa Thompson, also from the U.S., finished first in the women’s T13 division with a time of 03:47:25.
The United States’ Marko Cheseto Lemtukei came in first in the male T61-T64 division with a time of 02:37:01. Liz Willis from the United States came in first in the women’s T61-T64 division with a time of 03:56:31.
