126th Boston Marathon; a chance for top three finishers from the 2020 Valencia Marathon to meet again

Fans at the 2021 BAA Boston Marathon, photo by Kevin Morris / @kevmofoto

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This is a preview of the Boston Marathon, done by Justin Lagat for us. We look forward for his review of the race on Monday!

What makes a marathon race memorable is often what happens at the climax. For the 2020 Valencia Marathon, it was the long sprint between Evans Chebet and Lawrence Cherono in almost the entire one last kilometer.

Cherono had started the surge in an effort to break loose from Chebet, but the latter stuck just behind him, at times coming up shoulder to shoulder. Again, Cherono had engaged a strong finishing kick with about 200m to go, of which Chebet reacted and went with him. In the end, Chebet out-sprinted Cherono to win the race in a new course record of 2:03:00 against Cherono’s 2:03:04. Behind them, was Birhanu Legese who came in to finish 3^rd in what would have become a new course record as well in 2:03:16.

Interestingly, the three are the fastest three on the start list this Monday during the 126^th edition of the Boston Marathon that will happen this Monday, the 18th of April, on Patriot’s Day.

Legese is the fastest on paper with 2:02:48, a time that makes him the third-fastest man ever in the marathon behind Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele. He is the 2020 Tokyo marathon champion and is also rated as the second-best marathon runner in the world according to the current World Athletics marathon rankings.

Chebet who won the 2020 Valencia Marathon by running his personal best time of 2:03:00, is not new to the World Marathon Majors, having placed 3^rd at the Berlin Marathon in 2016 and 4^th at both the London (2021) and the Tokyo (2017) Marathons.

Cherono, who is currently ranked at 3^rd place according to the World Athletics Marathon rankings, has a personal best time of 2:03:04, which he also ran at the 2020 Valencia Marathon to finish 2^nd behind Chebet.

As the three runners meet to compete again this coming Monday, there will be some interesting observations to make. Will all of them still be in the same form they were at the Valencia Marathon? Will Legese take advantage of his fastest time on paper to boost his confidence ahead of the race? Will it be a chance for Cherono to demonstrate that he is indeed better than Chebet according to his better world ranking?

But, this race is definitely not going to be among the three runners given the dept of the elite men’s field.

Geoffrey Kamworor, the man of all surfaces, the three-times world half marathon champion, the two times world senior cross country champion, and the 2017 New York City Marathon champion will also be on the starting line.

Lelisa Desisa, the 2019 world marathon champion, 2018 New York City Marathon champion, 2 times Boston Marathon champion (2013 and 2015), and 2013 Dubai marathon champion, will also be another big star to watch out for.

The 2021 London Marathon champion, Sisay Lemma will be another one. He has a personal best time of 2:03:36, a time he ran to finish 3^rd at the Berlin Marathon in 2019. He is also the 2015 Frankfurt and the 2018 Ljubljana Marathon winner.

Ethiopia’s 28-year-old Kinde Atanaw who has a personal best time of 2:03:51, a time he ran to win the 2019 Valencia Marathon will also be another interesting runner to follow.

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