On Monday, Kenyan Diana Kipyogei won the Boston Marathon in her first big marathon.
Her previous major triumph came at the Istanbul Marathon when she was 27 years old.
The race started out like any other, with a large lead group emerging and runners progressively fading away. By the midway point, the pack had grown to 20 members.
The race didn’t truly start until Kipyogei went ahead 18 kilometers in.
Kenyan veteran Edna Kiplagat, a pre-race favorite and two-time world champion as well as a winner in New York and Boston, quickly caught Gudeta and pursued Kipyogei.
She gained some time, but not enough to close the gap completely.
Kipyogei finished in 2 hours 24 minutes 45 seconds, an unexpected triumph in a field with many more experienced runners.
Kiplagat, 41, came in second with a time of 2:25:09.
Kenyans dominated the top four positions, with Mary Ngugi coming in third and Monicah Ngige coming in fourth. In sixth place, Nell Rojas was the top American.
