John Korir of Kenya joins his brother Wesley as a Boston Marathon champion

By Canadian Press on April 21, 2025.

BOSTON (AP) — John Korir of Kenya joined his brother as a Boston Marathon champion on Monday, following the hoofsteps of a Paul Revere reenactor who rode down Boylston Street and proclaimed “the runners are coming” as the race celebrated the 250th anniversary of the start of the Revolutionary War.

Six months after winning Chicago, Korir mastered the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston’s Copley Square in an unofficial 2 hours, 4 minutes, 44 seconds — the second-fastest winning time in race history.

After crossing the line, he was greeted by his older brother, 2012 Boston winner Wesley Korir. Although the race has been won by a pair of unrelated John Kelleys and two different Robert Cheruiyots, the Korirs are the first brothers — or relatives of any kind — to win the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon.

Conner Mantz of Provo, Utah, finished fourth after losing a three-way sprint to the finish with Alphonce Felix Simbu of Tanzania and Cybrian Kotut of Kenya. Simbu was second and Kotut was third.

Korir ran without his bib showing, pulling it out of his running tights as he sprinted down Boylston Street.

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Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott in Hopkinton, Mass., contributed to this story.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports

Jimmy Golen, The Associated Press