Kenya’s Salina Kosgei outkicked Kara Goucher and defending champion Dire Tune in the last kilometer of the Boston Marathon on Monday, going back and forth with Tune in the final blocks of Boylston Street to win the closest women’s finish in event history.
Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga overcame his fade in the Olympic marathon at Beijing to win the men’s race, with Ryan Hall picking up another third place for US runners — their best showing in more than 20 years.
Merga had pulled away by the bottom of Heartbreak Hill, winning in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 42 seconds — 50 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Daniel Rono of Kenya, with Hall another eight seconds back.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“Boston is one of the biggest marathons in the world,” Merga said. “Because of that, our people are very happy.”
Goucher led the three women as they crossed above the MassPike into Kenmore Square with 1 mile to go, but the two Africans began to pull away from her as they dueled. A year after Tune outkicked Alevtina Biktimirova to win by two seconds in what was then the closest women’s finish ever, the Ethiopian traded places with Kosgei several times on the last long stretch to the tape.
The only closer finish in the 113-year history of the event was the men’s race in 2000, when Elijah Lagat beat Gezahegne Abera with an identical time of 2:09:47.
Tune fell to the pavement after crossing the finish line and lay there for several minutes; a race spokesman said she was hospitalized as a precaution.
Men’s defending champion Robert Cheruiyot, who was going for an unprecedented fourth straight title and fifth overall, dropped out of the race between the 35K and 40K markers and was also taken to a hospital.
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