Boston Marathon 2023 results: Kenyans Evans Chebet, Hellen Obiri win men's and women's races

Chebet is the first man to win two consecutive Boston Marathons since 2008

By Isabel Gonzalez

Apr 17, 2023 at 2:17 pm ET • 2 min read

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Kenya swept the 127th Boston Marathon on Monday as Evans Chebet and Hellen Obiri won the men's and women's races, respectively.

This was Chebet's second consecutive year winning the race, this time clocking in at 2:05:54 to become the first athlete to win the Boston Marathon to repeat since Robert Cheruiyot won three in a row from 2006-2008. He ran almost a minute faster than last year (2:06:51), and according to the Boston Athletic Association, he has the third fastest winning time in the history of the race.

"I'm happy, because last year I ran, but there was no rain, but this year, a lot of rain," Chebet said in a post-race interview. "So, I'm happy because I know this course very well. I'm happy because I won last year and this year, so maybe next year, I'll come back again."

Evans Chebet of Kenya is your 2023 Boston Marathon champion in 2:05:54.

-Defeats strongest Boston Marathon field in history
-Winning time is 3rd-fastest in history of the race
-3 straight major wins (Boston-NY-Boston)
-First man to repeat in Boston since 2008

Legendary. pic.twitter.com/RCbGLXTSrl
— Jonathan Gault (@jgault13) April 17, 2023

The favorite for the 2023 men's race was marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge, who won Olympic gold medals in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. He was competing as part of his goal to win and set course record times in each of the six World Marathon Majors Series races.

Kipchoge already won four of them and set three course records in the process. Coming into Monday, he had never ran in a Boston Marathon. He started off well before struggling in what is known as Newton's Heartbreak Hill. Kipchoge went on to finish sixth and is still looking for wins in Boston and New York.

Obiri, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the women's 5000 event, was a late entry. Before the race, Obiri said patience was going to be the key to winning. She entered Monday as the only woman to win titles in indoor and outdoor track and cross country, per the Boston Athletic Association, and now she is adding marathon to that impressive resume.

She moved to the United States just three weeks ago to train for this event and had only done one other marathon before -- New York in November, when she finished sixth. Obiri pulled off the victory with a solid sprint down Boylston Street at the end of the race. to finish in 2:21:38 -- the fourth-fastest winning time in race history.

"I said let me go and do my best because there were strong ladies," Obiri told the media after her win. "Of course, I can say today was my time. I was well prepared for this race."