Boston Marathon 2023 - The Women's Race

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The 127th Running of the Boston Marathon - The Women's Race
by John Elliott

Overview - Arguably, the Deepest Boston Women's Field Ever
In some years, the Boston field has only one to three serious contenders - part of that is that Boston must go against the London Marathon to attract athletes and part of that is just that the depth and avaialabilty of top women marathoners can be limited. But for 2023, the Boston Marathon brought in an amazing field of women. In the field were seven women who had previously run faster than 2:19:59, the Boston Marathon course record. With that depth, there was an expectation that the course record might be broken. In addition to these women, there were an additional seven who had a personal best under 2:20:59, not to mention additional women who had run near that mark. With that depth, we would expect to see a large group of women able to run together and a competitive race.

The Race
The race began as expected and through the first 20 miles, the pack was larger than any we had seen at Boston in many years and the fastest we had ever seen running at that pace in Boston: eleven women were together, running on pace toward a 2:22ish finish. The pack was not setting itself up to set a course record, but the heavy rains and slight headwind had already suggested that might not be a possibility on this day. Of special interest to the American fan base, Emma Bates was maintaining her position in the lead pack and leading that pack for much of the race. With a prior best of 2:23:18 from the 2022 World Championships race, Bates was running faster than she had before for the distance. After the race, Bates told us that her "coach specifically told me not to do that, but it just felt right..."

The Newton Hills - culminating in "Heartbreak Hill" - cover miles 19 to 21 on the course and it is usual that in this stretch some runners push the pace and the field thins. Indeed, this was the case in 2023, but the lead pack only lost two competitors and it remained a race of nine women running at a fast pace - increadible for Boston. Through to mile 23, there were still five women in the lead and by mile 24, there were still five women in contention: i) Amane Beriso, the fastest woman in the field who had run an incredible 2:14:58 to win the 2022 Valencia Marathon; ii) Lonah Salpeter, a woman with a 2:17:45 personal best and the runner-up at the 2022 New York City Marathon and bronze medalist at the 2022 World Championships; iii) Ababel Yeshaneh, a woman with a personal best of 2:20:51 and the runner-up at the 2022 Boston Marathon; iv) the previously mentioned American, Emma Bates; and v) Hellen Obiri, the two-time Olympic Silver medalist and one-time world champion at 5000 meters who had run only one previous marathon, finishing sixth at the 2022 New York City Marathon.

Already running faster than her personal best, Emma Bates fell behind the other leaders with two kilometers remaining. Thereafter, the race was down to four women. Surprising, or not, Hellen Obiri began to push the pace with one mile to go. This was surprising, as Obiri had little marathon experience and it was curious that she was still in the front pack at the end of the race. This was not surprising given Obiri's 5000 meter (and cross countr) successes - if fresh enough, Obiri would have the best finishing kick of any other runner.

The Finish
In hindsight, the finishing order at the 2023 Boston Marathon made sense. But beforehand, no one had predicted what would take place. Hellen Obiri, with her best-in-class shorter-distance speed continued to push the pace and ran forward to the win in 2:21:38, the 10th fastest Boston Marathon of all time and the a time only bested in three previous Boston Marathons: 2002, 2014 and 2022. Given the imperfect weather, this time is especially noteworthy. Amane Beriso, the woman with the fastest previous marathon, finished second in 2:21:50, hereafter the 13th fastest time ever at Boston. Lonah Salpeter followed up on her New York City Marathon runner-up finish to take the third spot in 2:21:57 in what would be the 15th fastest Boston Marathon ever. And rounding out the top four, Ababel Yeshaneh finished in 2:22 flat, the 16th fastest Boston finish ever.

The Americans
It was a day of personal bests for the top American women! Having led for much of the race and running in the lead pack until the final two miles, Emma Bates took the fifth finishing spot in a personal best of 2:22:10, the second fastest women's finish of all time in Boston behind only Shalane Flanagan's fifth place finish in 2014 of 2:22:02. Aliphine Tuliamuk finished as second American in a personal best of 2:24:37. Nell Rojas took a minute off her 2022 Boston time to finish in a new personal best of 2:24:51.

Top Finishers:
1. Hellen Obiri (F33) (KEN) 2:21:38 - $150,000
2. Amane Beriso (F31) (ETH) 2:21:50 - $75,000
3. Lonah Salpeter (F34) (ISR) 2:21:57 - $40,000
4. Ababel Yeshaneh (F31) (ETH) 2:22:00 - $25,000
5. Emma Bates (F30) (USA) 2:22:10 - $18,000
6. Nazret Weldu (F33) (ERI) 2:23:25 - $13,500
7. Angela Tanui (F30) (KEN) 2:24:12 - $10,500
8. Hiwot Gebremaryam (F27) (ETH) 2:24:30 - $8,500
9. Mary Ngugi (F34) (KEN) 2:24:33 - $7,000
10. Gotytom Gebreslase (F28) (ETH) 2:24:34 - $5,500
11. Aliphine Tuliamuk (F34) (USA) 2:24:37
12. Joyciline Jepkosgei (F29) (KEN) 2:24:44
13. Viola Cheptoo (F34) (KEN) 2:24:49
14. Nell Rojas (F35) (USA) 2:24:51
15. Nienke Brinkman (F29) (NED) 2:24:58

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Boston Marathon 2023 - The Women's Race