By Lincoln Son Currie
Boston University News Service
Evans Chebet of Kenya won first place in the men’s professional division of the Boston Marathon, becoming the first back-to-back winner since Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyou won three in a row from 2007-09. The non-binary division also premiered in the Marathon this year, and Kae Ravichandran became the division’s first winner.
The men’s professional race began at 9:37 a.m., and Evans Chebet of Kenya won at 11:42 a.m. in 2:05:54. Going into Monday’s race, Eliud Kipchoge — world record holder for the fastest marathon — drew attention as he made his Boston Marathon debut. Kipchoge won the last two Olympic gold medals for the marathon and finished with a time of 2:09:23 at 11:46 a.m., good for sixth place.
Among the runners competing against Kipchoge was Ethiopian Lelisa Desisa, who won the Marathon in 2013, the same year the tragic bombings occurred. Desisa famously donated his medal to the city in 2013 to honor the victims of the bombings. Desisa also won the Marathon in 2015 and finished runner-up in 2016 and 2019.
Kae Ravichandran of Vermont won the first nonbinary division race with a finishing time of 2:38:57 at 12:39 p.m.. Ravichandran was among the 27 total nonbinary runners who ran in that new division. Nonbinary athletes competed as amateurs, not professionals, as the professional division does not have a nonbinary category in this year’s race.
