BOSTON -- Sisay Lemma scorched the first half of the Boston Marathon course Monday, setting a record pace to build a lead of more than half of a mile.
Then the weather heated up, and the 34-year-old Ethiopian slowed down.
After running alone for most of the morning, Lemma held on down Boylston Street to finish in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 17 seconds -- the 10th-fastest time in the race's 128-year history. Lemma dropped to the pavement and rolled onto his back, smiling, after crossing the finish line.
"Until halfway through I was running very hard and very good. But after that it was getting harder and harder," said Lemma, who failed to finish twice and came in 30th in three previous Boston attempts. "Several times I've dropped out of the race before. But today I won, so I've redeemed myself."
Hellen Obiri defended her title, outkicking Sharon Lokedi to finish in 2:27:37 and win by eight seconds. Two-time Boston champion Edna Kiplagat completed the Kenyan sweep, finishing another 36 seconds back.
Obiri also won New York last fall and is among the favorites for the Paris Olympics. She is the sixth woman to win back-to-back in Boston and the first since Catherine Ndereba won four in six years from 2000 to '05.
"Defending the title was not easy. Since Boston started, it's only six women. So I said, 'Can I be one of them? If you want to be one of them, you have to work extra hard,' " she said. "And I'm so happy because I'm now one of them. I'm now in the history books in Boston."
Lemma, the 2021 London champion, arrived in Boston with the fastest time in the field -- just the fourth person ever to break 2:02:00 when he won in Valencia last year. And he showed it on the course Monday, separating himself from the pack in Ashland and opening a lead of more than half of a mile.
Lemma ran the first half in 1:00:19 -- 99 seconds faster than Geoffrey Mutai's course record pace in 2011, when his 2:03:02 was the fastest marathon in history. Fellow Ethiopian Mohamed Esa closed the gap through the last few miles, finishing second by 41 seconds; two-time defending champion Evans Chebet was third.
Each winner collected a gilded olive wreath and $150,000 from a total prize purse that topped $1 million for the first time.
On a day when sunshine and temperatures rising into the mid-60s left the runners reaching for water -- to drink, and to dump over their heads -- Obiri ran with an unusually large lead pack of 15 through Brookline before breaking away in the final few miles.
Emma Bates of Boulder, Colo., finished 12th -- her second straight year as the top American. Again, she found herself leading the race through the 30-kilometer mark, slapping hands as she ran past the Wellesley College students chanting her name before fading on the way out of Heartbreak Hill.
"I thought last year was crazy loud, but this year surpassed that completely," Bates said. "It was such a nice day for the spectators. Not so nice for the runners; it was pretty hot."
CJ Albertson of Fresno, Calif., was the top American man in seventh, his second top-10 finish.
Switzerland's Marcel Hug righted himself after crashing into a barrier when he took a turn too fast and still coasted to a course record in the men's wheelchair race. It was his seventh Boston win and his 14th straight major marathon victory.
Hug finished in 1:15:33, winning by 5:04 and breaking his previous course record by 1:33. Britain's Eden Rainbow-Cooper, 22, won the women's wheelchair race in 1:35:11 for her first major marathon victory. She is the third-youngest woman to win the Boston wheelchair race.
The otherwise sleepy New England town of Hopkinton celebrated its 100th anniversary as the starting line for the world's oldest and most prestigious marathon, sending off a field of 17 former champions and nearly 30,000 other runners on its way. Near the finish on Boylston Street 26.2 miles away, officials observed the anniversary of the 2013 bombing that killed three and wounded hundreds more.
Former New England Patriots NFL football player Rob Gronkowski hoists the winner's trophy at the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2024, in Boston. Gronkowski is grand marshal of the race. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Former New England Patriots NFL football player Rob Gronkowski hoists the winner's trophy at the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2024, in Boston. Gronkowski is grand marshal of the race. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Grand Marshal and former New England Patriots NFL football player Rob Gronkowski poses at the start of the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2024, in Hopkinton, Mass. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)
Members of the United States military cross the starting line as they participate in the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2024, in Hopkinton, Mass. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)
Boston Marathon Race Director Dave McGillivray, centre, sends a group of Massachusetts National Guard members across the start line in Hopkinton on Monday, April 15, 2024 to begin the marathon. The start line was painted in honor of the town that has hosted the marathon for the past century. It's the 128th edition of the world's oldest and most prestigious annual marathon. (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott)
Sisay Lemma, of Ethiopia, left, winner of the men's division of the Boston Marathon, and Hellen Obiri, of Kenya, right, winner of the women's division of the race, hold the trophy on the finish line of the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Sisay Lemma, of Ethiopia, celebrates after winning the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Hellen Obiri, of Kenya, celebrates after crossing the finish line to win the women's division at the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Sisay Lemma, of Ethiopia, celebrates while lying down after winning the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)