Boston Marathon 2026: John Korir Breaks Course Record To Win Second Straight Title

Defending champion John Korir broke the Boston Marathon course record on Monday, riding a tailwind to outrun the strongest field in event history and win in 2 hours, 1 minute, 52 seconds — the fifth-fastest marathon of all time.

The Kenyan broke away from the pack as it headed into Heartbreak Hill in Newton and opened a 40-second lead, peeking behind him as he went through Kenmore Square with a mile to go.

He beat the 2:03:02 set by Geoffrey Mutai in 2011 by 70 seconds. Kelvin Kiptum holds the marathon world record, with a 2:00:35 on the flatter Chicago course in 2023.

Korir stuck out his tongue and spread his arms as he ran down Boylston Street, a year after he joined 2012 winner Wesley Korir as the only brothers to win the race.

Alphonce Felix Simbu of Tanzania, 55 seconds back, and 2021 champion Benson Kipruto, another 3 seconds behind him, also were fast enough to better the previous Boston record. Zouhair Talbi, who competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics for Morocco and became an American citizen last year, was fifth in 2:03:45 that was the best time ever for a U.S. runner.

Sharon Lokedi, who shattered the women’s course record last year by more than 2 1/2 minutes, led the women’s race through Mile 24 on Monday as she attempted to join her fellow Kenyan as repeat champions.

Marcel Hug of Switzerland won his ninth wheelchair title in 1:16:06, missing his own course record by 33 seconds. He is one shy of the all-category record of South African wheelchair athlete Ernst Van Dyk’s 10 Boston Marathon wins.

Two-time winner Daniel Romanchuk of Champaign, Illinois, was second behind Hug for the fourth straight time.

In the women’s wheelchair race, Eden Rainbow-Cooper of Britain won her second Boston title, finishing in 1:30:51 to beat runner-up Catherine Debrunner of Switzerland by more than two minutes.

The athletes arrived in Hopkinton with frost on the ground and temperatures in the 30s. It had warmed to 45 degrees (7 degrees Celsius) by the the start — the coldest starting temperature since 2018 when it was 38 degrees combined with a headwind and driving rain that led to the slowest winning times in more than 40 years.

But the clear skies and slight tailwind on Monday had the fastest field in the 130-year history of the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon expecting fast times for the second year in a row.

Sharon Lokedi shattered the women’s course record last year, and Korir posted the third-fastest time in Boston history in that race.

Jack Fultz, who was serving as grand marshal on the 50th anniversary of his “Run for the Hoses,” said the weather was the “polar opposite” from the day of his 1976 win in temperatures approaching 100 degrees (38 degrees Celsius).

“I am just trying to soak it all in, to remember it all,” he said before in Hopkinton on Monday. “There are almost are no words to fully describe the kind of experience. You have a dream of a lifetime and all of a sudden it comes true.”

Runners may have noticed some changes this year, with the race turning to a crowd scientist for help in spreading things out a little so they don’t face bottlenecks on the narrow streets of the eight cities and towns along the course. At the start is a new statue of and by marathon pioneer Bobbi Gibb — the first statue on the course honoring a woman.

Race Director Dave McGillivray sent a group of about 50 members of the Massachusetts National Guard members off at 6 a.m. to get the day started. Staff Sgt. Mackenzie Smith and Spec. Benjamin De Boer stepped back and forth to try to stay warm before they set off on the course, but the cold didn’t dampen their enthusiasm for participating in the Boston Marathon for the first time.

“It’s an honor and a blessing to be standing at the Boston Marathon start,” Smith said. “The history that goes with the marathon resonates with me, growing up in Massachusetts.”