Boston Marathon M18-39: Chebet Defends in a Blazing Three-Way Finish

• Evans Chebet won the M18-39 age group in 2:05:54 (4:48/mi), becoming the 2022 and 2023 Boston champion in back-to-back editions.
• Gabriel Geay and Benson Kipruto — the 2021 Boston champion — finished just 10 and 12 seconds back, at 2:06:04 and 2:06:06, making the top three the tightest podium in the editions we have.
• Eliud Kipchoge, in his Boston debut, finished 6th in 2:09:23 (4:56/mi) — 1:29 behind Chebet.
• Scott Fauble (AZ) led the American contingent with 7th place in 2:09:44, edging Hassan Chahdi by just two seconds.

Evans Chebet came to Boston as the defending champion — he crossed the line in 2:06:51 here in 2022 — and he made his case for the title emphatically, finishing in 2:05:54 at a blistering 4:48/mi average on a cool, drizzly Patriots' Day. His path to the win was anything but a wire-to-wire cruise: he dropped as far back as 6th at the first checkpoint before charging back into the lead by 30K and holding it all the way to Copley Square. His fastest segment came between 20K and the half, where he posted the quickest split in the men's field on that stretch.

Gabriel Geay (FL) was the man who surged hardest in the early going — he owned the fastest men's split from 5K to 10K and shot to the lead at the halfway point before Chebet and Kipruto reeled him back. He held on brilliantly for 2nd in 2:06:04. Benson Kipruto, the 2021 Boston champion, ran the fastest men's split from 15K to 20K and was as high as 1st at 10K before settling into 3rd at 2:06:06. The 12-second window separating the top three is a testament to how fiercely competitive this race was from halfway home.

Albert Korir ran a measured, consistent race to 4th in 2:08:01, while Zouhair Talbi was the field's biggest mover in the back half, climbing from 11th at 10K all the way to 5th by the finish in 2:08:35. Kipchoge, racing Boston for the first time, showed his class with a 6th-place 2:09:23 but had no answer for Chebet's finishing strength — 1:29 separated them at the tape. Matthew McDonald (MA) was the top local finisher in 10th at 2:10:17, and a deep M18-39 field of 5,285 finishers filled out Boylston Street long into the afternoon.