By Lincoln Son Currie
Boston University News Service
Kenya’s Hellen Obiri won the 127th Boston Marathon’s women’s profession division with a time of 2:21:38 at 12:10. The non-binary division also premiered in the Marathon this year, and Kae Ravichandran became the division’s first winner.
Obiri finished 37 seconds behind last year’s winner, Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir, who finished with a time of 2:21:01. Jepchirchir edged out Ethiopian runner Ababel Yeshaneh by just four seconds in last year’s Marathon. This year, Yeshaneh finished in fourth with a time of 2:22:00, as she fell at mile 23.
Gotytom Gebreslase — women’s marathon champion at the 2022 World Athletics Championships — ran in the Boston Marathon for the first time this year. Gebreslase finished with a time of 2:24:34.
The women’s professional division also drew experienced participants like Edna Kiplagat, who won the 2017 and 2021 Boston Marathon, finished second in 2019 and took fourth place in 2022. Kiplagat finished in 31st place in this year’s race with a time of 2:34:40.
Previous women’s professional division champions like American Desiree Linden, who won in 2018, and Ethiopian Atsede Baysa, who won 2016, also ran in the Marathon. Linden finished with a time of 2:27:18, and Baysa finished in 2:30:14.
Kae Ravichandran of Vermont won the first nonbinary division race with a finishing time of 2:38:57 at 12:39. 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.
