2024 Boston Marathon: Preview, full schedule, and how to watch live
Some of the world’s top marathoners, including Kenyan athletics stars Evans Chebet and Hellen Obiri, head to Massachusetts, United States, for the 128th Boston Marathon on 15 April.
Can Chebet become the first men’s three-time winner in Boston since Robert Cheruiyot? That’s what he will be aiming to achieve when he lines up for the third straight time in the world's oldest annual marathon.
The women’s event has been billed as the deepest in race history. Obiri is the favourite to defend her title as she eyes her first Olympic marathon race at Paris 2024.
The two East Africans are the headline contenders, alongside past winners such as Worknesh Defaga (2019) from Ethiopia, Kenya’s evergreen Edna Kiplagat, a two-time winner, USA’s Caroline Rotich (2015), reigning Valencia Marathon champion Sisay Lemma, and Tanzania’s national record holder Gabriel Geay, the runner-up last year in Boston.
The last four men's winners and the last three previous three top finishers in the women's have been Kenyans.
Here is a rundown of what to expect and who to watch in the April 15 race, along with the full schedule and how to watch the race, which will also be streamed live on Olympic Channel through Olympics.com.
Top men and women to watch at the 2024 Boston Marathon
Since finishing fourth at the 2021 London Marathon, Chebet has not lost a marathon run. His breakthrough win in the World Marathon Majors Series was in Boston the following year, just months before he again topped the podium in New York.
His previous triumph was in the 2023 Boston race when he beat a stacked fielding including double Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge.
Following his back-to-back victories, he returns to Boston looking to tap into his experience on the course and become only the second man to win the Marathon thrice since Cheruiyot did in 2008.
The 25-year-old’s first attempt at the Boston Marathon for the infamous Heartbreak Hill was in 2018 when he also struggled in the torrential rain.
With a PB of 2:03:00, he will not be the fastest man on the entry list. That honour belongs to Lemma, the Ethiopian who won the London Marathon in 2021. Lemma’s 2:01:48 win in Valencia in December, makes him the fourth-fastest man in history.
The other fast man in the field of 20 is Tanzanian Geay, whose 2:03:00 puts him at par with Chebet, whom he chased down to the finish line when he placed second last year. CJ Albertson, the world record holder at 50km, will be back to start another marathon just two months after finishing fifth at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
Another runner from the marathon powerhouse who has conquered both New York and Boston on this year's entry list is Obiri. The two-time Olympic silver medallist at 5000m was recently confirmed as part of her country’s squad for the Olympic Games Paris 2024, and is all set to defend her Boston title.
“This year I have a lot of pressure, as the defending champion, everyone will be looking at you, and you have to be [at] your best so that you show people I am the best,” she said in a podcast with Citius Magazine.
Boston will be her fourth career marathon. Her debut was in New York in 2022 where she finished sixth before returning to win it last year.
She is only one of several strong Kenyans making the elite list.
Others are Sharon Lokedi, the winner of the 2022 New York Marathon, Mary Ngugi-Cooper who has finished in the top ten in four previous appearances at Boston in four previous, and the two-time world champion Edna Kiplagat, who at 44 will be one of the oldest among the top runners on the course.
Worknesh Degefa, the 2019 Boston Marathon 2019 champion, and Hiwot Gebremaryam are among the top Ethiopians expected to start in Boston.
2018 Boston winner Desiree Linden and Sara Hall, who missed out on making the U.S. team for the Paris Olympics, lead the Americans seeking to win their home race.
2024 Boston Marathon – Full schedule of events
(Timings in ET/ GMT +4)
- 8:02am Men’s Wheelchair
- 8:05am Women's Wheelchair
- 8:30am Handcycles & Duos
- 8:37am Professional Men
- 8:45am Professional Women
- 8:50am Para Athletics Divisions
- 9:00am Rolling Start Begins
- 11:30am Rolling Start Ends
How to watch the 2024 Boston Marathon
Boston residents can follow the race live by finding a good spot on the spectator guide, or can kick back in their living room as the marathon will be aired lived on WCVB beginning at 4:00 a.m. ET through 8:00 p.m. ET.
The race will be exclusively simulcast regionally on WCVB Channel 5’s Hearst Television owned sister-stations WMUR (Manchester, NH), WMTW (Portland/Auburn, ME), and WPTZ (Burlington, VT/Plattsburgh, NY).
WCVB, WMUR, WMTW and Very Local Boston will all live stream the race on their digital platforms and apps.
ESPN will broadcast the 128th Boston Marathon for wider America on its flagship channel from 8:30am until 1:00om ET, while Eurosport will televise the race in Europe and other regions.
Marathon fans can find the full list of international broadcasters here. Olympic Channel will also have coverage of the race in selected territories.