Ethiopian runners head strong Boston Marathon fields

Addis Ababa, April 16, 2023 (FBC) – Several Ethiopian long distance runners are expected to conquer the 2023 Boston Marathon in both men and women races as they take on other strong opponents from across the world on Monday, April 17.

In the men’s race, Ethiopian athletes Herpasa Negasa, Lelisa Desisa, Shura Kitata, and Andualem Belay will battle it out against Eliud Kipchoge and other athletes from Kenya, Uganda, Morocco, Eritrea, USA, and other countries.

Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa has great experience of the Boston event as together with his wins in 2013 and 2015, he secured second-place finishes in 2016 and 2019. This year marks 10 years since his first victory, after which he donated his champion’s medal back to the City of Boston in recognition of the tragedy of 15 April 2013. The 2019 world marathon champion also won the New York City Marathon in 2018.

Meanwhile, the women’s race is also filled with great quality, featuring many strong contenders. It will feature familiar faces from Ethiopia; including Amane Beriso, Gotytom Gebreslase, Hiwot Gebremaryam, Ababel Yeshaneh, and Atsede Baysa.

Ethiopia’s Amane Beriso is the fastest in the field thanks to the 2:14:58 PB she ran to win in Valencia in December. She also won the Mexico City Marathon last year, as she made her comeback after a series of knee injuries, and while the Valencia and Boston courses are very different, she does have experience of Boston as she raced the event in 2016, finishing 12th on that occasion.

World champion Gotytom Gebreslase makes her Boston Marathon debut, five months on from her third-place finish in the New York City Marathon, which followed her world title win in Oregon in July, achieved in a 2:18:11 PB. Although it is her first time racing 26.2 miles in Boston, she is not new to racing in the city as she is a two-time runner-up of the Boston Half Marathon and has achieved three top five places at the Boston 5K.

Another notable debutante is Kenya’s Hellen Obiri. The two-time world 5000m champion ran her first marathon in New York in November, finishing sixth, but since then she has won half marathons in Ras Al Khaimah and New York, where she set a 1:07:21 course record and then decided to run Boston.

Kenya’s two-time Boston Marathon winner Edna Kiplagat returns, as do Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh and Kenya’s Mary Ngugi who finished second and third, respectively, in Boston last year.

Other returning champions are Ethiopia’s Atsede Baysa, who won in 2016 and finished eighth in 2021, and USA’s Desiree Linden, who won in 2018 and will be contesting her 10th Boston Marathon.

The 2023 Boston Marathon is this year’s sixth World Athletics Elite Platinum Label road race, according to the World Athletics.