By Neenah Payne

The 2022 Boston Marathon was held on April 18, 2022, the 126th running of the race with the field was limited to 30,000 runners. The elite men’s and women’s races were won by Kenyans Evans Chebet and Peres Jepchirchir.

Women Race To The Finish

The women’s race was a fight to the finish with the two top contenders changing the lead several times and the winner coming in only 4 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher!

2022 Boston Marathon results (video)

In the 2021 New York City Marathon, women’s winner Peres Jepchirchir became the only woman to take a marathon major after earning the Olympic gold medal which she had won in Japan 13 weeks earlier.

The 2022 Boston Marathon Breakdown

The 126th running of the historic marathon didn’t disappoint. Evans Chebet Makes a Hard Move to Win the Men’s Race. Evans Chebet of Kenya crossed the finish line in 2:06:51 to win the men’s race. “My coach had told me going into the race that when you see people getting close to you, you have to shoot up and give them a race,” he said on the race broadcast. He certainly gave spectators a race, covering 35K to 40K in a 13:55 5K split.

2021 Boston Marathon Winners

On October 1, 2021, People reported:

“Kenyan Runners Benson Kipruto and Diana Kipyokei Become First-Time Winners at 125th Boston Marathon. ‘I’m happy today to be a champion,’ said Benson Kipruto, as he and fellow Kenyan runner Diana Kipyokei won the men’s and women’s races at the 125th Boston Marathon.

The 125th Boston Marathon, which is the oldest annually run marathon in the world, took place Monday after last year’s event was held as a virtual experience due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Usually held in April, this was the first Boston Marathon to take place in the fall.

Kipruto, 30 — who previously won the Prague and Toronto marathons — finished first in two hours, nine minutes and 51 seconds. Kipyokei, 27 — who also has an Istanbul Marathon victory under her belt — had a time of two hours, 24 minutes and 45 seconds. ‘It was a nice feeling today after finishing tenth a couple of years ago,’ Kipruto said after he was crowned with a gold olive wreath. “I’m happy today to be a champion.”

Kipruto was coached by Abel Mutai, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist in the steeplechase. Training in Kapsabet and the Nandi Hills in Kenya, he previously noted that his go-to workout is the long run. ‘You get a sense of mental flow when the body has achieved the perfect steady state,’ Kipruto said. ‘It feels like the body moves without any effort.’

Kipyokei trained in Iten, Kenya, under Joseph Cheromei, along with teammate Angela Tanui. Cheromei placed first in the 1993 World Half Marathon Championships in Belgium.”

Why Do Kenyans and Ethiopians Win Marathons?

Why Do Kenyans Win The Marathons?  showed that  Kenyans and Ethiopians swept the NYC Marathon in 2019 for 1-2-3 in the men’s race and women’s race. Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya won $100,000 for his victory and another $10,000 for breaking 2:10 with a finish of 2:08:13. Kamworor won in 2017 and was on the medal podium in each of the four NYC Marathons he ran.

Kenyan Joyciline Jepkosgei holds the world’s record in half marathons. In an historic debut in her first marathon, she became the youngest woman to win the New York City Marathon this century, with a finishing time of 2:22:38 — just 7 seconds from the record! In 2017, Jepkosgei broke four world records in a single event and was the first Kenyan to break six world records in six months.

In 2019, a man and woman from Kenya won. In 2018, a man from Ethiopia and a woman from Kenya won! In 2018, Ethiopian men attained their third victory in the race’s history — in contrast with Kenya’s 14 wins. Since they began entering the NYC, Boston, London, and Berlin marathons in the 1980s, it has been a foregone conclusion that Kenyans will take most of the top spots.

The article asks,

“What’s special about Kenyan runners? This is an important question as these world-class runners are likely to get metals the summer Olympics in 2020. A number of researchers are trying to figure out the key to their success and what the rest of the world can learn from them.”

The article points out that there is a fascinating cluster of unusual factors in the winning formula for Kenyan runners.

In the 2021 New York City Marathon, men’s winner Albert Korir and women’s winner Peres Jepchirchir made it a Kenyan sweep. Korir won the men’s race two years after finishing second and Jepchirchir became the only woman to take a marathon major after earning the Olympic gold medal  — which she had won in Japan 13 weeks ago. Viola Cheptoo of Kenya finished second and Ababel Yeshaneh of Ethiopia was third. Mohamed El Aaraby of Morocco placed second and Eyob Faniel of Italy was third in the men’s race.

Mary Keitany of Kenya and Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia were the 2018 NYC marathon winners.

Is Two-Hour Marathon Possible?

Eliud Kipchoge is a Kenyan marathon world record holder with a time of 2:01:39 set at the 2018 Berlin Marathon. His run broke the previous world record by 1 minute and 18 seconds. On his marathon debut, Kipchoge won the 2013 Hamburg Marathon in a course record time. His first victory in a World Marathon Major was in the Chicago Marathon in 2014, and he was the champion for 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. Kipchoge won the London Marathon a record four times and won the Olympic marathon in 2016. His only loss in a marathon was a second place behind Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich at the 2013 Berlin Marathon where Kipsang broke the world record.

Amazon says about Eliud Kipchoge – History’s fastest marathoner: An insight into the Kenyan life that shapes legends:

“Some would claim that the two-hour marathon is an inevitable progression of the sport of athletics, akin to the once impenetrable barrier of the four-minute mile. However, many would argue that this is a much more formidable obstacle, one that is at odds with human physiology.

This was the case, until in May 2017, Nike staged the Breaking2 project in Monza, Italy. Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya came so close to achieving just that. What many regarded as a moon shot, the combination of Eliud’s extraordinary talent, strength and mental fortitude, with Nike’s technology and their legion of exercise scientists, came so close to culminating in an achievement that so many regarded as futuristic, if not impossible. Although not ratified by the IAAF as an official world record, Eliud’s magnificent run opened many people’s eyes to the imminent possibility, if not the inevitability, of a sub-two-hour marathon.”

Amazon says about Running with the Kenyans: Discovering the Secrets of the Fastest People on Earth:

“Finn’s incredible journey to the elite training camps of Kenya will captivate and inspire you, as he ventures to uncover the secrets of the fastest people on earth.…Finn traveled to a small, chaotic town in the Rift Valley province of Kenya—a mecca for long-distance runners, thanks to its high altitude, endless paths, and some of the top training schools in the world. There Finn would run side by side with Olympic champions, young hopefuls, and barefoot schoolchildren….Finn would learn invaluable lessons about running—and about life.”

Eliud Kipchoge: The Greatest Marathoner!

The Greatest Ever – 2:01:39 – Eliud Kipchoge Crushes World Record to Win 2018 Berlin Marathon says:

“In an astonishing performance at the 2018 BMW Berlin Marathon, Kipchoge took marathoning into a new stratosphere by clocking 2:01:39 – the first man ever under 2:02, and a full 78 seconds faster than Dennis Kimetto’s four-year-old world record. It was a performance so far superior to anything we’ve seen before that comparing it to another marathon feels inadequate.

This was Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in basketball, Usain Bolt’s 9.58 in the 100-meter dash. Kipchoge’s splits – 1:01:06 for the first half, a ridiculous 1:00:33 for his second half – sound made up. But they were real, and they were spectacular. Derek Clayton lowered the world record from 2:12:00 to 2:09:36 in 1967. The men’s marathon world record hadn’t been lowered by more than a minute in a single race since 1969 when Clayton lowered his 2:09:37 WR down to 2:08:34.”

The article discusses Kipchoge’s unparalleled success:

“While Kipchoge’s time represents a massive breakthrough in the marathon, the fact is that the 33-year-old Kenyan has been on a completely different level from his peers for several years now. Berlin was his 10th victory in 11 marathon starts (and his ninth straight), an unparalleled run of marathon success in the modern era. During that time, it was quite clear that Kipchoge was capable of improving upon Kimetto’s 2:02:57 world record, but until today, the stars never aligned for him.

Now he has run his greatest marathon of all….This record will stand for a long, long time (unless Kipchoge breaks it)….No one has ever run anything close to 2:01:39 — Kimetto is the only other man under 2:03, and he’s still 78 seconds behind. Kipchoge’s extended run of dominance in the marathon was the best evidence that he’s the greatest we’ve ever seen at the distance, and now he has the personal best to back it up. We don’t toss this analogy around lightly, but Kipchoge really is the Usain Bolt of marathoning….Kipchoge’s 2:01:39 looks to be the same — an incredible mark by a transcendent athlete….in order for the record to fall, you’re going to need another transcendent talent like Kipchoge (the greatest marathoner in history by some margin) and great conditions on the day. The chances of those two things coming together anytime soon are small. The 1500m world record is 20 years old; the 5,000 record 14 years old, and the 10,000 record is 13 years old. Now that Kipchoge has had his say, it would not be surprising to see the marathon world record reach a similar age.”

Kipchoge vs Bekele For Decades

The video below shows that Kipchoge has battled Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele on the track and in marathons for several decades.

Eliud Kipchoge’s EPIC BATTLE With Kenenisa Bekele || The COMPLETE RACING HISTORY DOCUMENTARY

London Marathon 2020 – Last 20 min

Kipchoge Wins Unprecedented Third Olympic Marathon: Tokyo 2020

Sports commentators run out of superlatives in describing Kipchoge.

Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge wins back-to-back marathons 

“Kenya’s defending champion from Rio 2016, Eliud Kipchoge, won the men’s marathon at Tokyo 2020.”