Hellen Obiri bursts to Boston Marathon glory on debut

• Obiri was a late entrant to the race after the withdrawal of Sharon Lokedi
• She stormed away from two Ethiopians to win
• This was only her second marathon

Hellen Obiri stormed off the challenge of two Ethiopians in the final two kilometres of the race as she won her first ever marathon race, timing 2:21:38 to clinch the Boston title on her debut.

Obiri was competing in only her second career marathon, having finished sixth in New York last year and was only a late entrant to Boston. She had been drafted in to replace Sharon Lokedi who pulled out and speaking after the race, she admitted she did not want to compete.

“I honestly did not feel like running in Boston and my coach had to really convince me to run. He told me that he felt I was in good shape and he believed in me. I hesitated a lot but I finally decided let me just try it out,” said Obiri.

She added; “I am really happy to have won. It is such a great feeling and I did not expect this.”

Obiri needed to summon her 5,000m track experience on the face of stiff opposition from the Ethiopian duo of Amane Beriso and Ababel Yeshaneh in the final 2km of the race as she outsprinted the two to cut the tape first.

Beriso finished second in a time of 2:21:50 while Kenyan-turned Israeli Lonah Salpeter edged out yeshaneh for third at the line, timing 2:21:57, three seconds ahead of the fourth placed Ethiopian.

-More to follow