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Flanagan Broke Away from Daska and Others to win the 2017 NYC Marathon. Can she do it again in Boston?
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Boston Marathon 2018 - The Preview
by MarathonGuide.com Staff
At 122 years old, the Boston Marathon has the greatest history of any marathon and continues its commitment to bringing together a great field of elite athletes to provide drama and an exciting race. With that history and commitment - we look forward to the Boston Marathon race more than any other each year.
The Boston Marathon is also unique among the Marathon marathons in that it offers NO time bonuses - at least none that are attainable*. (note: the race does offer bonuses for breaking the world or course records, but with the course record of 2:03:02 set on a day with a massive tailwind, that time will never be reached again). Without time incentives, the Boston Marathon is a pure race and the win does not always go to the runner with the best credentials, but rather to the runner who is toughest AND smartest on the day. The Boston course also features more difficult terrain than many of the other top marathons and to succeed runners must be able to manage a major downhill start followed by a series of hills between miles 18 and 20 and then a rolling downhill final section (where the race really takes shape).
The Boston marathon competes in the same season (and just one week apart) as the London Marathon so in some years the Boston Marathon field is lacking. We will admit that we were especially disappointed with the 2016 Boston Marathon field, where in addition to competing against the London Marathon for a top elite field all top Americans had run the Olympic Trials Marathon in mid-February and were unable to run Boston and other International athletes were unavailable doing what they needed to do to be selected for or prepare for the once-every-four-years Olympics.
For 2018, the Boston Marathon has excelled in recruiting a top field. The field contains an amazing - and we don't use that word lightly - group of past champions, Olympians, International athletes from a variety of countries and a showcase of top and upcoming Americans.
As Americans make up the majority of those reading MarathonGuide.com and as, by and large, Americans are very patriotic and support their own; we would be remiss if we didn't point out the most exciting hope for this year's race: that Americans could take one or two of the top spots. For the first time in nearly 40 years, both American Men and Women can be considered the arguable favorites to win - on both sides. Galen Rupp was runner-up at Boston in 2017 and later won the 2017 Chicago Marathon. Shalane Flanagan has never done better than 4th at Boston, but she is coming in to the race following her win at the 2017 New York City Marathon.
The Men's Race
The 2018 Men's race features a fast field with six men who had run sub 2:06 and twelve others who had run sub 2:10 - that is probably the fastest field ever assembled for Boston. The defending champion, Geoffrey Kirui, one of the fastest in the field, is returning to defend his title and is one of the favorites. Two other past/recent Boston Champions are returning to the race: Lelisa Desisa and Lemi Berhanu. Tamirat Tola, the silver medalist at the Marathon World Championships, bronze medalist at the 10,000m in the 2016 Olympics and winner of the 2018 Dubai Marathon is the fastest in the field with his 2:04:06 personal best.
As we had mentioned, Americans are always the underdog sentimental favorites. But for 2018 Galen Rupp arrives at the top of his game. Rupp was runner-up at the 2017 Boston Marathon and ended 2017 on top by winning the Chicago Marathon. In his four career marathons, Rupp has never finished worse than third place, so there is great hope and pressure on Rupp. Rounding out the American field are Shadrack Biwott who was fourth overall at Boston in 2017; Abdi Abdirahman - running as a Masters but always willing to surprise us all; Ryan Vail, Scott Smith and Andrew Bumbalough. Dathan Ritzenhein was originally set to be in the field, but had to drop out.
The Women's Race
The women's race will feature twelve women who have run 2:25 or better. Defending champion Edna Kiplagat will return and will stand as one of the favorites. Olympic medalists, world championship medalists and additional past champions of Boston will also be running, including will be in attendance For the first time in years, Americans - and more than one! - will figure well in the field. Shalane Flanagan, coming off her New York City Marathon win in October will hope to continue her legacy. Jordan Hasay, the third place finisher at Boston in 2017 in her debut marathon will hope to learn from her mistakes of the prior year. Molly Huddle, after setting the USA Half Marathon record, will hope to extend her dominance of American running to the Marathon distance. And Desiree Linden, a past runner-up at Boston, is always a strong contender. This is shaping up to be the best showing for American women at Boston, perhaps ever....
Elite Lineup:
| Male Elite Athletes |
| Athlete | Country | Bib | Personal Best | Boston |
| Geoffrey Kirui (25) | Kenya | 1 | 2:06:27, Amsterdam, 2016 | History |
| Tamirat Tola (27) | Ethiopia | 2 | 2:04:06, Dubai, 2018 | History |
| Lemi Berhanu (24) | Ethiopia | 3 | 2:04:33, Dubai, 2016 | History |
| Lelisa Desisa (28) | Ethiopia | 4 | 2:04:45, Dubai, 2013 | History |
| Nobert Kigen (25) | Kenya | 5 | 2:05:13, Amsterdam, 2017 | History |
| Wilson Chebet (33) | Kenya | 6 | 2:05:27, Rotterdam, 2011 | History |
| Evans Chebet (30) | Kenya | 7 | 2:05:30, Valencia, 2017 | History |
| Felix Kandie (31) | Kenya | 8 | 2:06:03, Seoul, 2017 | History |
| Philemon Rono (27) | Kenya | 9 | 2:06:52, Toronto Waterfront, 2017 | History |
| Dathan Ritzenhein (36) | USA | 10 | 2:07:47, Chicago, 2012 | History |
| Yuki Kawauchi (31) | Japan | 11 | 2:08:14, Seoul, 2013 | History |
| Abdi Nageeye (29) | Netherlands | 12 | 2:08:16, Amsterdam, 2017 | History |
| Lusapho April (36) | South Africa | 14 | 2:08:32, Hannover, 2013 | History |
| Arne Gabius (37) | Germany | 15 | 2:08:33, Frankfurt, 2015 | History |
| Kentaro Nakamoto (36) | Japan | 16 | 2:08:32, Beppu-Oita, 2013 | History |
| Abdi Abdirahman (41) | USA | 17 | 2:08:56, Chicago, 2006 | History |
| Galen Rupp (32) | USA | 18 | 2:09:20, Chicago, 2017 | History |
| Reid Coolsaet (39) | Canada | 19 | 2:10:28, Berlin, 2015 | History |
| Ryan Vail () | USA | 20 | 2:10:57, London, 2014 | History |
| Stephen Sambu () | Kenya | 21 | 2:11:07, Chicago, 2017 | History |
| Eric Gillis () | Canada | 22 | 2:11:21, Toronto Waterfront, 2014 | History |
| Elkanah Kibet () | USA | 23 | 2:11:31, Chicago, 2015 | History |
| Timothy Ritchie () | USA | 24 | 2:14:50, Minneapolis-St. Paul, 2013 | History |
| Shadrack Biwott () | USA | 25 | 2:12:01, New York City, 2016 | History |
| Scott Smith () | USA | 26 | 2:14:40, Minneapolis-St. Paul, 2014 | History |
| Andrew Bumbalough () | USA | 27 | 2:13:58, Tokyo, 2012 | History |
| Female Elite Athletes |
| Athlete | Country | Bib | Personal Best | Boston |
| Edna Kiplagat (39) | Kenya | 1 | 2:19:50, London, 2012 | History |
| Aselefech Mergia (33) | Ethiopia | 2 | 2:19:31, Dubai, 2012 | History |
| Buzunesh Deba (31) | Ethiopia | 3 | 2:19:59, Boston, 2014 | History |
| Jordan Hasay (27) | USA | 4 | 2:20:57, Chicago, 2017 | History |
| Shalane Flanagan (37) | USA | 5 | 2:21:14, Berlin, 2014 | History |
| Eunice Kirwa () | Bahrain | 6 | 2:21:17, Nagoya, 2017 | History |
| Mamitu Daska () | Ethiopia | 7 | 2:21:59, Frankfurt, 2011 | History |
| Desireé Davila (35) | USA | 8 | 2:22:38, Boston, 2011 | History |
| Madai Perez (38) | Mexico | 9 | 2:22:59, Chicago, 2006 | History |
| Caroline Rotich (34) | Kenya | 10 | 2:23:22, Chicago, 2012 | History |
| Jessica Augusto (37) | Portugal | 11 | 2:24:25, London, 2014 | History |
| Gladys Chesir () | Kenya | 12 | 2:24:51, Amsterdam, 2017 | History |
| Serena Burla (36) | USA | 14 | 2:26:53, Osaka, 2017 | History |
| Deena Kastor (45) | USA | 15 | 2:19:36, London, 2006 | History |
| Sara Hall (35) | USA | 16 | 2:27:21, Frankfurt, 2017 | History |
| Molly Huddle (34) | USA | 17 | 2:28:13, New York City, 2016 | History |
| Krista Duchene (41) | Canada | 18 | 2:28:32, Toronto Waterfront, 2013 | History |
| Kellyn Taylor (32) | USA | 19 | 2:28:40, Houston, 2015 | History |
| Kellys Arias (29) | Colombia | 20 | 2:29:36, Hamburg, 2016 | History |
| Jessica Draskau Petersson () | Denmark | 21 | 2:30:07, Chicago, 2015 | History |
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