Kenyan Olympic gold medalist Peres Jepchirchir took first place in the professional women's division at the Boston Marathon on Monday with a time of 2:21:02, NBC Sports reported.
Jepchirchir had no chance to relax as she closed in on the finish line at the end of the 26.2-mile race. Hot on her heels was Ababel Yeshaneh of Ethiopia, who completed the race just four seconds behind Jepchirchir.
The NBC commentator referred to it as "one of the greatest races in Boston Marathon history" and declared Jepchirchir, who won the women's marathon gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, "the best marathoner in the world on the women's side."
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Although agonizingly close, Jepchirchir and Yeshaneh's final sprint is nowhere near the closest finish in Boston Marathon history. In 2000, Kenyan Elijah Lagat and Ethiopian Gezahegne Abera finished with identical times of 2:09:47, followed by Kenyan Moses Tanui three-tenths of a second later. Lagat "was awarded the victory in a photo finish," per The Boston Globe. Several other races in both the women's and men's divisions have ended with gaps of just one or two seconds between the top two runners.
Monday's men's division winner, Evans Chebet, won by a slightly more comfortable margin, with a time of 2:06:51 compared to second-place finisher Lawrence Cherono's 2:07:21.
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