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Reigning champion John Korir headlines 2026 Boston Marathon men’s field
Eight of last year’s top 10 will return for this year’s race.
Returning winners are a staple of Boston Marathon pro fields. So are those back for more after falling just short of the crown.
Reigning champion John Korir will return to defend his title at the 2026 Boston Marathon, where he’ll be joined by the other two podium finishers from last year — Alphonce Felix Simbu of Tanzania and Cybrian Kotut of Kenya — along with a few other stars.
Eight of last year’s top 10, including fourth-place finisher and top American Conner Mantz, will return for this year’s race. Mantz pushed the pace for the pack chasing Korir before missing the podium by seconds with a personal best of 2 hours, 5 minutes, 8 seconds.
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Mantz used that performance as a springboard to run even faster in the fall, breaking the American record in Chicago in 2:04:43, but again narrowly missing out on the podium at a major marathon he’s been chasing.
“Finishing fourth a year ago was very close to my goal of placing in the top three,” said Mantz, who also owns the American record in the half-marathon, in a release. “I’m eager to return to Boston and race against the best of the best again.”
One man who knows a thing or two about major podiums is Galen Rupp, a two-time Olympic medalist (including a bronze in the marathon at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games), the 2017 Chicago Marathon winner, and the runner-up in Boston in 2017.
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Rupp, one of the biggest stars ever in American distance running, has struggled with injuries since a second-place finish in Chicago in 2021, and will toe the line in Boston for the first time since 2018.
Other top American men in the mix include Mantz’s training partner and 2024 Olympian Clayton Young (seventh in Boston last year), sub-2:07 finisher Biya Simbassa, and track Olympian Joe Klecker, who made his marathon debut in New York last fall.
Kenya’s Benson Kipruto, the 2021 Boston Marathon champion, will also be on the bus to Hopkinton for the first time since 2023. A four-time major marathon winner (Boston 2021, Chicago 2022, Tokyo 2024, and New York last November), Kipruto is the only runner (male or female) to have won all three American majors.
“Boston holds a special place in my heart, as I won my first major there in 2021, and have finished third twice,” said Kipruto in a release. “I look forward to starting my 2026 season and racing a fast group of men in April.”
Kipruto’s personal best of 2:02:16 is the fastest in the field, just eight seconds faster than Korir’s 2:02:24 from Valencia in December. Ten men with personal bests under 2:05 are expected to race in April, including another former Boston champion, 2016 winner Lemi Berhanu.
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In the men’s wheelchair race, Switzerland Marcel Hug will seek his ninth title (and fifth in a row), the second most in history. As usual, he’ll expect to have American Daniel Romanchuk — two-time winner and the division’s only other champion since 2015 — for company.
“While the weather may be unpredictable, I can always count on fast competition, a challenging course, and lots of energy each April at the Boston Marathon,” said Romanchuk.
The Marathon will take place on April 20.
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