Boston Marathon 2024 - The Men's Race

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The 128th Running of the Boston Marathon - The Men's Race
by John Elliott

The Greatness and Weakness of Sisay Lemma

In the 2024 edition of the race, the field and pundits knew who had the fastest personal best going into the field. Sisay Lemma had won the December 2023 Valencia Marathon in what was the fourth fastest marathon of all time, 2:01:48. Lemma was also the champion of the 2021 London Marathon and had podium finishes in Berlin, Tokyo, Dubai and Frankfurst. But Lemma's successes all had come on flat/fast marathon courses. On the other hand, Lemma had major failures at tougher courses including a DNF at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. In Boston, Lemma's preformances had been even worse: in three appearances, Lemma had DNF'd twice at Boston (2017 and 2022) and finished 30th overall in 2:22:08 in his one Boston finish (2019). Underwhelming to say the least...

How To Run Away with the Boston Marathon - The 10th Anniversary of Meb Keflezighi's Win

Having been run 127 times before the 2024 edition, the Boston Marathon had many years of history and stories. It just so happens that the 2024 race was the tenth anniversary of one of the most improbable wins at Boston: the win by Meb Keflezighi, an American marathoner, who ran away from the field and somehow held onto his lead all the way through the finish. In most years, a large pack of runners is together until mile 18 or 20 - the hilly section of Boston course. But in 2014, Meb Keflezighi ran away from the main field at mile 7. Initially running with one other American, Keflezighi was wholly alone by mile 14 and through force of will gutted it out to stay ahead of all others to the finish. In that year, the field did not believe that Keflezighi could win and made the mistake of letting him gain a lead that could not be caught in the final miles.

History Repeats - Ten Years Later

At the 2024 Boston Marathon, the men immediately started their run at course record pace. A pack of ten men ran through the 5K split in 14:21 - if continued, that pace would put them men to the finish line in about 2 hours 1 minute, near a world record and two minutes faster than the course record of 2:03:02 which was set in 2011, a year with a massive tailwind propelling the runners forward.

By mile four, Sisay Lemma began to move away from the pack - reminiscent of Keflezighi's move ten years earlier. Lemma continued toward world record pace, crossing the 10K mark in 28:28, the fastest anyone had ever reached that point in Boston before. The remaining pack were no slouches in their pace either, crossing 10K in 28:53 - also faster than anyone had crossed 10K in any previous edition of the race. But they were letting Lemma go.

Over the next miles, Lemma continued to put down incredibly fast miles and crossed the halfway point in 1:00:19. To put that in perspective, the previous fastest time to halfway at Boston had been 1:01:58 and Lemma's previous best standalone half marathon was 1:01:09 Behind Lemma, five men crossed the halway mark in 1:02:08 - Lemma's lead was a full 1:50. To watch this, we were sure Lemma could not finish at this pace - this was uncharted territory for both the course and the runner.

Ultimately, Lemma could not hold the incredible pace with which he began. Through mile 16, Lemma was still on pace for a sub-2:01 finish with an average mile run of 4:37. Thereafter he slowed with each of his last seven miles all run at slower than 5 minutes per mile. While Lemma ran the first half of the race in 1:00:19, the second half would take him 1:05:58. but even with the slowing, Lemma's lead - which peaked at 3:21 (nearly 3/4 of a mile!) by 25K would be enough to hold off the other athletes. Lemma would win in 2:06:17, the tenth fastest time ever at Boston.

Behind the Leader

The pre-race favorite, arguably, was two-time defending champion Evans Chebet. Chebet was setting the pace - very fast - of the chase pack and into mile 23 he would push ahead to begin to try to catch Lemma. Only John Korir - brother of 2012 Boston Marathon champion, Wesley Korir - would keep up with Chebet and it appeared these two would take second and third spots if they could not catch Lemma. Chebet began to run away from Korir, but in the last mile, Mohamed Esa picked up the pace to sprint past Korir and Chebet with Esa running a final mile of 4:43 versus Chebet's final mile of 5:12. Esa would take the runner-up spot in 2:06:58 while Chebet would finish third in 2:07:22.

The Place of The Plan in Running a Marathon

To run one's best marathon, a runner needs a plan. And it is generally accepted that the best strategy is to run a constant pace or even negative split (faster on the second half) for the marathon. Certainly, if a runner starts and continues too fast, they will feel it and suffer toward the end of the race.

For the 2024 Boston Marathon, it is clear that all of the lead men went out way too fast at the start of the race - faster than anyone had ever started the Boston Marathon before! After the race, Sisay Lemma told us that his plan was to go through the first half marathon in 1:02. But he went through the first half much faster than that and he slowed significantly. The 2:06:17 was not the best time Lemma could have achieved, and probably lucky that he could hold on for the win - he would have done better had he kept to his plan. Meanwhile, the man who arguably ran the smartest race was runner-up Mohammed Esa. Esa stayed behind chase pack after mile 11 and ran more conservatively - he had more fuel in the tank and it let him catch all but the leader in the final miles. Esa did tell us that his coach told him not to break from the pack until after 40K - and, in fact, this part of the plan possibly cost Esa the opportunity for a win given the rate at which he was closing on the leader at the end. It's all about having the right training, the right plan for the day and running the right race - on this day Lemma held onto the win, just as Keflezighi had ten years before, but it could have ended differently.

Top Finishers:

1. Sisay Lemma (ETH) 2:06:17 - $150,000
2. Mohamed Esa (ETH) 2:06:58 - $75,000
3. Evans Chebet (KEN) 2:07:22 - $40,000
4. John Korir (KEN) 2:07:40 - $25,000
5. Albert Korir (KEN) 2:07:47 - $18,000
6. Isaac Mpofu (ZIM) 2:08:17 - $13,500
7. CJ Albertson (USA) 2:09:53 - $10,500
8. Yuma Morii (JPN) 2:09:59 - $8,500
9. Cybrian Kotut (KEN) 2:10:29 - $7,000
10. Zouhair Talbi (MAR) 2:10:45 - $5,500
11. Shura Kitata (ETH) 2:10:52
12. Sondre Moen (NOR) 2:11:18
13. Suguru Osako (JPN) 2:11:44
14. Elkanah Kibet (USA) 2:12:32
15. Ryan Eiler (USA) 2:14:22

Post Race:
Men's Race and Commentary
Women's Race and Commentary

Race Day: As It Happens - Live Coverage (the real-time notes/mile-by-mile)
Complete Searchable Results