2019 Boston Marathon - The International Men

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2019 Boston Marathon - The International Men

Geoffrey Kirui | Lelisa Desisa | Sisay Lemma |

There are too many International Men to feature in this article. And we ran out of time to write bios on all of them. That said, here are our favorites to make it to the podium on Marathon Monday. Did we forget the defending champion, Yuki Kawauchi, from this list? Yes and no... While Kawauchi is a champion, it took the inclement weather of 2018 to humble all of the other runners and allow the toughest of all Kawauchi to win. Barring once-in-a-century (or maybe with climate change will it be more often) weather, the race will feature the fastest as much as the toughest. Here are some of the fastest:

Photo Credit: Victah Sailer

Geoffrey Kirui
Country: Kenya
PB: 2:06:27, 2016 TCS Amsterdam Marathon
Boston Best: 2:09:37, 2017 Champion

Winner of the 2017 Boston Marathon (2:09:37) and runner-up at the 2018 Boston Marathon (2:18:23), Kenya's Kirui enters the 2019 event with another victory in mind. Kirui as a junior won the gold medal in the 10,000m event at the 2011 African Junior Athletics Championships and the bronze medal in the 2012 World Junior Championships, running his first Half Marathon several years later in 2014.

Kirui, who has been focused on the full marathon distance for only three years now, has had remarkable success, converting his Half Marathon personal best of 59:38 (2015 New Delhi Half Marathon) to two notable wins; the 2017 Boston Marathon and the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London (2:08:27) later that same year. His second-place finish time at Boston in 2018 (2:18:23) was impacted by the foul weather conditions as were most times, but his sixth-place finish at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon (2:06:45) last fall, just 18 seconds off his 2016 personal best at the distance, indicates that Kirui remains in peak racing shape. His speed and knowledge of what it takes to prevail on the Boston course both mentally and physically, combined with the thirst for a repeat victory, position this tactical, self-coached runner well for the podium in 2019.

Photo Credit: Victah Sailer

Lelisa Desisa
Country: Ethiopia
PB: 2:04:45, 2013 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon
Boston Best: 2:09:17, 2015 Boston Marathon

Two-time victor at the Boston Marathon (2013 and 2015) and 2018 TCS New York City Marathon champion Desisa, a prolific figure at both the half and full marathon distances, began his career as a junior in Ethiopia, winning gold in the 10,000m event at the African Junior Athletics Championships before moving on to a series of wins and top performances at iconic races such at the Cherry Blossom 10K, the Utica Boilermaker, the Boulder Bolder and the Peachtree Road Race. Desisa consistently breaks the one-hour mark in the Half Marathon event and ran his debut marathon at the 2013 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, winning the event in his personal best time of 2:04:45.

Desisa followed that performance with his first victory at the Boston Marathon (2:10:22) several months later; in a moving act, he returned the winner's medal to the City of Boston following the tragic events at that year's race. Desisa capped off his debut year by taking the silver medal at the IAAF World Marathon Championships in Moscow that August. Since 2013, Desisa has been a regular fixture on the podium at the Boston Marathon, achieving his second victory in 2015 (2:09:17) after a 2014 DNF, as well as placing second (2:13:32) in 2016. His 2018 victory at the TCS New York City Marathon likewise follows a history of podium performances; Desisa placed second (2:11:06) in 2014 and third (2:11:32) in 2017. Desisa's impressive performances against competitive fields at what are arguably the most difficult marathons in the U.S. come with just one drawback; a history of DNF's at both events as well. If Desisa has retained both his physical and mental fitness since November, his well-known love for the city of Boston as well as his history as a victor could easily place him on the podium once more.

Photo Credit: Victah Sailer

Sisay Lemma
Country: Ethiopia
PB: 2:04:08, 2018 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon
Boston Best: 2018 DNF

Ethiopian Sisay Lemma, who has competed almost exclusively at the Marathon distance, began his running career at the age 17, debuting on the world stage in 2012 with a 2:11:58 win at the Memorial Enzo Ferrari Carpi Marathon in Italy. Lemma has since averaged three marathons a year, amassing wins at the 2013 Warsaw Marathon (2:09:02), the 2015 Vienna City Marathon (2:07:31), the 2015 BMW Frankfurt Marathon (2:06:26) and the 2018 Volkswagen Ljubljana Marathon (2:04:58); he has further been a top five finisher at the competitive Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon four times, and placed fourth at the 2016 BMW Berlin Marathon (2:06:56) and the 2017 Bank of America Chicago Marathon (2:11:01).

While Lemma has yet to finish on the podium in a World Marathon Majors event, he twice broke 2:05 in 2018, once while setting his personal best 2:04:08, and certainly has some of the greatest raw speed in the field. Lemma's challenge at the upcoming Boston Marathon will be improving his racing skills against an equally talented international field while still capitalizing on this speed; if successful, he could find himself on his first WMM podium.

Kenneth Kipkemoi
Country: Kenya
PB: 2:05:44, 2018 Rotterdam Marathon
Boston Best: Debut

Kenneth Kipkemoi, a Kenyan 10,000m and Half Marathon specialist who debuted at the marathon distance in 2018, will run his first Boston Marathon and only his fourth lifetime marathon this April. Kipkemoi, who won the silver medal in the Half Marathon at the 2011 All-Africa Games (behind fellow Boston competitor Lelisa Desisa) and the gold medal in the 10,000m event at the 2012 African Championships in Athletics, ran his debut marathon in 2013 at the Steinmetz Gaborone Marathon before returning his focus to shorter distances. In 2014, he set his Half Marathon PR of 59:01 at the Valencia Half Marathon. While this is the only event in which he has broken the 60-minute barrier, he consistently runs under 61 minutes for the distance.

Kipkemoi returned to the marathon last year, winning the NN Rotterdam Marathon in a PR time of 2:05:44. Capitalizing on this success, he ran the Bank of America Chicago Marathon (2:05:57) last fall, placing fourth in a deep field. At this, Kipkemoi's first Boston, his challenge will be matching his speed to the topography. Kipkemoi, a traditionally a Half Marathon specialist, has run his two most recent marathons on the extremely flat Rotterdam and Chicago courses, and may not yet have the skill to manage a race with a second half as challenging as Boston's. He does, however, have the necessary speed to surprise both the field and the oddsmakers, landing himself on the podium.

Lawrence Cherono
Country: Kenya
PB: 2:04:06, 2018 TCS Amsterdam Marathon (Course Record)
Boston Best: Debut

With an impressive six marathon wins and two course records since 2015, Kenyan Lawrence Cherono, the fastest runner in the 2019 Boston Marathon field, is certain to run a standout race. Since taking second place in his debut marathon in 2014, Cherono, like fellow competitor Sisay Lemma, has averaged three marathons per year, running as many as four in 2016, in which he won two and placed second in two. Cherono has placed firmly within in the top 10 finishers in each of his thirteen marathons.

Following his debut at the 2014 Algers Marathon (2:10:16), Cherono has whittled his personal best time to 2:04:06, the fastest in the 2019 field. His PR, a course record at the 2018 TCS Amsterdam Marathon, followed wins at the 2015 Seville Marathon (2:09:39), the 2016 Volkswagen Prague (2:07:24) and Honolulu (2:09:39) marathons, and the 2017 TCS Amsterdam (2:05:09) and Honolulu (2:08:27) marathons, his Honolulu time a course record. Cherono's slowest performance in the 2018 was a 2:09:25 at the Virgin London Marathon; this earned him lower than usual seventh-place honors but still secured him a top-10 finish in his first World Marathon Majors event. Cherono, like Kipkemoi, will need to match the unequalled speed he showed in Amsterdam against the specific challenges of the Boston course, but with deep experience in the rigors of the distance, remains a very likely candidate for a top finish berth.

Solomon Deksisa
Country: Ethiopia
PB: 2:04:40, 2018 TCS Amsterdam Marathon
Boston Best: Debut

Ethiopian Solomon Deksisa, who ran his debut marathon just three years ago, arrives at the 2019 Boston Marathon with the fourth fastest personal best and having run two notable races in 2018. Deksisa's debut marathon, a 2:06:22 second-place finish at the 2016 Rotterdam Marathon, saw him finish a full minute ahead of fellow Boston competitor Geoffrey Kirui; his personal best performance at the 2018 TCS Amsterdam Marathon saw him finish less than 40 seconds behind fellow Boston competitor Lawrence Cherono, and just three seconds from the second place spot.

Deksisa's other marathons include a third-place finish at the 2017 Toronto Marathon (2:11:27); an uncharacteristic 12th place finish at the 2017 Tokyo Marathon (2:09:31) and wins at the 2018 Mumbai (2:09:34) and HASPA Hamburg (2:06:34) marathons. Whether Deksisa yet has the experience to come out on top of an international field of this caliber, his experience racing against Kirui and Cherono will certainly serve him well, and his debut Boston Marathon will be one to watch.