John Hancock's 2014 Elite Field
Field Summary
Men's Field Summary
Reigning Boston Marathon champion Lelisa Desisa returns to defend his title, but will be challenged by the fastest field ever assembled for the world’s most historic marathon.
Top contenders include seven men in the field who have run under 2:05:30, including Desisa, who is ranked #1 in the world by Track & Field News for his 2013 wins in Boston and Dubai and his silver medal finish at the 2013 IAAF World Championships Marathon. Dennis Kimetto, who is ranked #2 in the world for his 2013 course record wins in Chicago and Tokyo (since broken) may be Desisa’s strongest challenger. Kimetto holds the world record in the 25K and has a personal best 2:03:45 from his Chicago win.
Ethiopians Gebre Gebremariam and Markos Geneti have also run sub-2:05 and have experience on the course. Gebremariam has finished third at Boston twice and won the New York City Marathon in 2010. Geneti won Los Angeles and still holds the record and last year finished sixth in his Boston debut.
Last year’s runner up and former 10K world-record-holder Micah Kogo returns for redemption after missing the crown by five seconds. Other strong challengers will be three-time Amsterdam winner and Rotterdam champion Wilson Chebet and young talent Tilahun Regassa, who has also won Rotterdam. Frankline Chepkwony, a past champion in Seoul and Zurich joins Kogo and Regassa to seek the title.
Two-time Olympian Ryan Hall, who holds the American course record of 2:04:58 at Boston, and three-time Olympian Meb Keflezighi, who is a past New York City winner and Olympic silver medalist, will work together with American elites Jason Hartmann, Abdi Abdirahman, Brett Gotcher, Nick Arciniaga and Jeffrey Eggleston to bring back a title for the U.S. Keflezighi has finished as high as third in Boston and Hartmann has finished fourth the past two years.
Joining them to round out the deep men’s field are April Lusapho, third place finisher at the New York City Marathon last year, and Adil Annani, who won Beppu and Casablanca. Also in contention are young talents Warsaw winner Vitaliy Shafar, Lisbon champion Paul Lonyangata, Gongju winner Joel Kimurer and Kenyan elite Mathew Bowen.
Women's Field Summary
On the women’s side, the historic win will be difficult to secure with ten women owning personal best times under 2:23:00. Headliners include three of the top four finishers from last year’s race: Rita Jeptoo, Sharon Cherop and Shalane Flanagan.
After winning Boston for the second time, Jeptoo went on to win the 2013 Chicago Marathon in 2:19:57. Cherop, the 2012 Boston Marathon champion, by three seconds to secure second place. Cherop returns for her fourth Boston Marathon with an improved personal best of 2:22:38, earned this past fall with a runner-up finish in Berlin. Three-time Olympian Flanagan was in the hunt until the final stretch last year and finished fourth, only seven seconds outside of a podium spot.
Challenging these women will be 2011 Boston Marathon champion Caroline Kilel and 2011 runner up Desiree Linden. Both women are back in top form with Kilel setting a new 2:22:34 best in Frankfurt and Linden determined to improve upon the 2:22:38 American course record she holds in Boston.
Ready to mix things up are Mare Dibaba, who has a personal best of 2:19:52 and recently won Xiamen; Jemima Sumgong, who was runner up in Chicago last year and in Boston in 2012; Meselech Melkamu, who holds the 2:21:01 Frankfurt course record; Eunice Kirwa, who has a 2:21:41 best and Seoul champion Flomena Chepchichir.
Two-time New York City runner up Buzunesh Deba is in the field with eight U.S. marathon wins to her name. Joining Deba are Olympic Marathon bronze medalist Tatiana Petrova Arkhipova, who returns after maternity leave, and Aleksandra Duliba, the national marathon record holder from Belarus. Each expects podium finishes in their Boston debuts.
Also joining the field are Yeshi Esayias, who has won or placed runner up in nine marathons; Rotterdam champion Philes Ongori and Belaynesh Oljira, who is making her transition to the roads after winning the bronze medal in the 10,000m at the 2013 IAAF World Championships.
Additional Americans headlining the John Hancock team are Serena Burla and Adriana Nelson. Each brings strong credentials to the race, as does Canadian national-record-holder Lanni Marchant, former Tokyo champion Noriko Higuchi and Adriana Aparecida da Silva from Brazil.