Kenya’s Geoffrey Kirui wins, American Galen Rupp second in the 2017 Boston Marathon
The 24-year-old surged ahead after a pensive race, while Rupp, in just his third marathon, was just behind on a windy day in Boston.
Kenyan athletes nabbed both gold medals at the 2017 Boston Marathon this morning. Geoffrey Kirui secured his gold medal spot coming in for the win in 2:09:37. Canadians keeping tabs on closer-to-home athletes had eyes on U.S. Galen Rupp who came in second in a closer finish than expected. Rupp ran 2:09:58 ahead of Japanese athlete Suguru Osako.
Osako ran in Boston today for his debut in the distance. He crossed the finish line in 2:10:28. While new to the 42.2K distance, Osako is an athlete of note as he trains in Portland with the Nike Oregon project. He has earned himself a bronze medal at North America’s greatest road race just a month before his 26th birthday.
Rupp wore the U.S. uniform in the Olympic marathon last year on the Rio race course where he earned himself a bronze medal. Then, he ran 2:10:05. His Boston performance is now his new PB.
Top two men at Boston: Kirui and Galen Rupp pic.twitter.com/BOrgkezLuT
— Canadian Running (@CanadianRunning) April 17, 2017
Many were hoping that Rupp would become the winner of the Boston Marathon this year. Unlike the women’s race which saw some dramatic moves, the lead group of men hung in tight well past the 30K mark. While top-seeded runner (and a pre-race favourite for many) Emmanuel Mutai led the shoulder-to-shoulder pack for much of the race, he was overtaken by his fellow Kenyan competitor in the end.
Geoffrey Kirui: "I am so happy to win Boston" pic.twitter.com/QYr7KK97cH
— Canadian Running (@CanadianRunning) April 17, 2017
Kirui and Rupp were able to break away from the leaders with Wilson Chebet (also Kenyan) hanging in at the top for a brief while. In the end though, Kirui was able to open up a gap and keep it that way coming in for a strong first place across the finish line in Boston today.
Canadian Eric Gillis was not present on the Boston Marathon course today. The Canadian runner had to cancel due to injury.
This story will be updated with athlete quotes and a full play-by-play.
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