Ethiopian runners win Boston Marathon

Ethiopia represents in Boston.
(Image credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Ethiopian runners swept the Boston Marathon on Monday, with Lemi Berhanu Hayle taking the men's division and Atsede Baysa taking the women's.

Berhanu Hayle, 21, beat out two-time champion Lelisa Desisa to win the race, notching an unofficial time of 2:12:45. Baysa, 29, took the lead with just two miles to go, passing another Ethiopian runner, Tirfi Tsegaye, and unofficially clocking in at 2:29:19.

The women's defending champion, Caroline Rotich of Kenya, dropped out of the race after five miles, The New York Times reports. The 2016 race, Boston's 120th, marks the first time Ethiopian runners have won both elite divisions in the same year.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.