FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Worknesh Degefa Cruises To 123rd Boston Marathon Title
When she arrived in Boston last week, Worknesh Degefa's marathon resume
included one race: Dubai, which she has run the past three years. With the
elevation profile of a dining room table, it does not seem the ideal
training ground for Heartbreak Hill and its Newton brethren.
But Arsi, a zone of the Oromia Region in Ethiopia? That's another matter.
And that's where Degefa trains, on hills that both mimic and dwarf the ones
she tackled on Monday. Toss in the memory of last year's TV coverage ("I
put that video in my mind today") and a 2:17:41 personal best, and the
fastest woman in the 2019 Boston Marathon field – despite having never seen
the course in person – needed only one more ingredient: nerve.
"I am ready to win," said the 28-year-old, the fourth-fastest woman in
history at the distance, at the pre-race press conference.
And that's what she did, outlasting a late-race surge by 2017 Boston
champion Edna Kiplagat to win in 2:23:31. Kiplagat finished as runner-up in
2:24:13, closing a gap that had grown to 2:59 by 30K to just 42 seconds.
Third, and top American, was Jordan Hasay in 2:25:20.
Degefa took home $150,000 for the victory.
"I'm happy the race took place after the rain was done," she said,
referring to an early morning deluge. I'm so happy that I won. Today is the
most wonderful."
The marker for Mile 5 had not yet been reached when Degefa began to put it
all together. After pedestrian early miles of 5:47, 5:43 and 5:40,
Degefa threw down a 5:23, followed by a 5:16 and then a 5:12 – the fastest
of the day – as she sensed the need to get away early from veteran
strategists such as Kiplagat, 2012 champion Sharon Cherop and defending
champion Des Linden.
"If I stayed longer, at the finish maybe I would not make it. I knew I had
some speed," Degefa explained.
At first, Cherop and Mare Dibaba, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist who has
twice finished second here, gave chase, but they were reeled in by the pack
before 20K while Degefa continued to build her lead.
"You know [Degefa's] ability," said Linden, who would finish fifth in
2:27:00 and tried to keep Hasay from getting too anxious. "You know what
she's done in Dubai [2:19:53 and 2:22:36 in addition to her PB] but you
wonder how it translates to this course. And you wonder when she starts
putting down those super quick miles. You say, ‘all right, this is her race
to lose.'"
Degefa hit the halfway point in a dazzling 1:10:40, 2:27 ahead of a huge
pack with the hills looming. That lead grew to almost three minutes and was
still 2:26 at 35K, but the runner who had looked unbreakable a while back
was beginning to show some cracks. At one point in the Newton Hills, she
had crossed herself twice, looked over her shoulder, glanced at her watch.
She was slowing down, and she knew it.
Meanwhile, Kiplagat had thought that if they kept increasing their pace
together, the pack might catch Degefa before the finish line. She realized,
however, that time was running out, so she mounted a solo pursuit. It was
as futile as it was valiant, but Kiplagat was not sorry she tried.
"It was good for me because I was able to be second, and I am happy about
it," said the indefatigable 39-year-old Kiplagat, a two-time IAAF World
Champion.
Hasay, 28, was top American in her comeback from a pair of stress fractures
in her left heel, the first of which had caused her to withdraw from Boston
last year the day before the race. She had not run a marathon since the
Chicago Marathon in 2017, where her 2:20:57 made her the second-fastest
American woman in history.
"Once Edna made that strong move I just tried to close hard," Hasay said.
"I was in fourth, so I was just proud to catch back up to third and get the
Americans on the podium again."
Winning the masters division was Kate Landau of Jacksonville, Florida, in
2:31:56, while Joan Benoit Samuelson, the two-time Boston champion and 1984
Olympic gold medalist, succeeded in her goal of running within 40 minutes
of her 1979 winning time 40 years ago (2:35:15), coming across the line in
3:04:00.
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