Adidas Athlete Evans Chebet Wins Second Consecutive Boston Marathon
Stephen Garner
News Editor
The Boston Marathon returned on Monday for what was a big day for Adidas.
With a final time of 2:05:54, Adidas athlete Evans Chebet was the overall winner and professional men’s division winner of Monday’s Boston Marathon and was one of five Kenyan runners to be among the men’s top ten ranking.
With this win, Chebet, who broke the tape wearing the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro 3 sneakers, became the first back-to-back winner in Boston in 15 years – and landed his third world marathon major in the space of a year. Chebet also notably won the 2022 New York City Marathon in November.
What’s more, Kenya’s Hellen Obiri crossed the finish line at 2:21:38, winning the professional women’s division title. The On-sponsored athlete finished sixth in New York last year, only a few months after her 10,000 meter podium in Eugene at the World Championships.
This marks Obiri’s first win in a marathon in what was just her second 26.2-mile career race. The former Olympian made a name for herself running slightly shorter distances on the track, winning silver medals in the 5000-meter events at both the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2021 Tokyo Games.
The 127th running of the Boston Marathon marked two anniversaries on Monday: the 50th one since women first competed and the 10th since two terrorist brothers detonated two bombs near the finish, killing three and injuring scores of others.
The marathon, which had over 30,000 registered participants from more than 100 countries, covers 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston. In addition to Adidas and On, other brands like New Balance, Brooks, Under Armour, Tracksmith, Hoka and Nike tapped into the event and more hosted special events and shoppable experiences in the area over the weekend.
Riding the wave of the pandemic boom, the running industry has been capitalizing on the return of in-person events over the past year and sees more big opportunities in the coming seasons. Brooks CEO Jim Weber told FN that running is “trend-right for the challenging and dynamic world we all live in” and is confident participation can double in size by 2030.
