Repeat winners Sharon Lokedi, John Korir proved Boston Marathon favorites in more ways than one

When there’s a lot of room between the winner of the Boston Marathon and the rest of the field, that usually means there’s not much room for surprises or suspense.

But Sharon Lokedi, the winner of the women’s elite race for the second straight year Monday, received a welcome bit of information when she connected with men’s elite winner John Korir just beyond the finish line.

In the immediate afterglow of her victory, she was giddy to learn that her fellow Kenyan hadn’t just repeated his win from last year, but shattered the 15-year-old course record.

“I saw him and I said, ‘You defended too?,”’ said the 32-year-old Lokedi, who finished in 2 hours, 18 minutes, 51 seconds, a little shy of her women’s course record of 2:17:22 set last year. “He said, ‘Yeah, with a course record.’ I was like, ‘Whaaat?’ ”

Upon hearing his news, she clapped her hands, patted her countryman on the shoulders, and said, “Good job! Good job!”

It wasn’t just a good job, but a historic effort by Korir, who finished in 2:01:52, more than a minute better than Geoffrey Mutai’s 2:03:02 in 2011, on a day in which the runners literally had the wind at their backs.

Korir easily topped his 2025 winning time of 2:04:45, a race he won in a runaway despite falling near the start.

“I knew I would defend my title, but I didn’t know I could run my fastest,” said Korir, whose brother, Wesley, won in 2012. “So for me, it was just go and defend my title, but the time came.”

Turns out that Korir’s record was also a pleasant surprise to him.

“When I crossed the finish line, I didn’t know that I’d run the course record until they told me,” he said. “That’s when I started to be happy.”

He certainly was. When Boston Athletic Association president Jack Fleming informed him that he’d set a new standard, Korir bounded up and down, truly jumping for joy.

In achieving their dual back-to-back victories in Boston, Korir and Lokedi took the same route, of course, but with different tactics and strategies.

Ethiopia’s Milkesa Mengesha was a one-man pack while leading a portion of the race past the midway point, but Korir was not worried.

“I knew I could close him,” he said.

And so he did, leaving Mengesha and everyone else behind beginning with mile 20 in the Newton hills.

Over the final miles, the question, barring catastrophe, wasn’t whether he would set a new course record, but by how much. Korir, who was laughing and relaxed at the starting line in Hopkinton, was a picture of elation as he approached the Boylston Street finish, sticking his tongue out, raising his arms, and tapping his chest.

Korir finished 55 seconds ahead of runner-up Alphonce Felix Simbu. Benson Kipruto finished third.

Lokedi also prevailed by a significant margin, finishing 44 seconds ahead of Loice Chenmung (2:19.35), with Mary Ngugi-Cooper taking third (2:20:07). The women’s elite race featured a pack of eight or nine runners — including a group of Americans that included eventual fifth-place finisher Jess McClain — before Lokedi and fellow Kenyans Chenmung and Irine Cheptai pulled ahead at mile 21.

Lokedi gradually pulled away from there, despite not having some of the technological benefits that would have allowed her to better gauge her pace.

“I knew I was going fast, but I didn’t know how fast I was going,” she said. “This morning, I forgot my watch. I think we were like 30 minutes in [to the bus ride to Hopkinton] and I told my coach, ‘I forgot my watch.’ We managed to [borrow] a watch, it still was a Garmin, but I didn’t have anything other than paces and kilometers. All I wanted to do was just get to the finish line as fast as possible.

“Honestly, I just went with it. I pushed it and thought, ‘Let’s see how it goes.’ ”

Lokedi shed her gloves — temperatures were in the low 40s when the race began — with approximately 2½ miles to go, but there was no real need to streamline with her safe advantage. With a fraction of a mile remaining, she broke into a huge smile as the finish line grew closer and the cheers louder.

Should Lokedi and Korir return next year to pursue their respective three-peats, chances are they will be considered the favorites. In their runaway victories Monday, on Patriots Day — the best day this city or any other in this country has to offer — they already emerged as favorites of a different kind.

“Everyone on the road today was yelling, ‘Sharon! Sharon!’,” said Lokedi. “I felt so much love. I’m really, really happy.”

Chad Finn

Sports columnist

Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.