Boston 5K Winners
- Ethiopia’s Yihune and Hambese won the Boston 5K titles in weekend tune-up races before Monday’s marathon. (sports.yahoo.com) - The Boston 5K and B.A.A. Invitational Mile drew thousands, and wheelchair star Marcel Hug, an eight-time winner, is chasing a ninth Boston title. (wcvb.com) (sports.yahoo.com) - Weekend results provided final competitive signals for athletes headed into Monday’s marathon. (sports.yahoo.com) (wcvb.com)
Ethiopia swept the Boston 5K on Saturday, with Addisu Yihune and Gela Hambese winning the final marquee tune-up before Monday’s Boston Marathon. (baa.org) Yihune, 23, won the men’s race in 13:14 and broke the event record of 13:20 set by Ben True in 2017. The Boston Athletic Association said he earned $8,000 for the victory and a $5,000 bonus for the record. (baa.org) Hambese, also 23, defended her title in 15:28, becoming the first woman to repeat as Boston 5K champion since Buze Diriba in 2018. Americans Rachel Smith and Katie Izzo followed in a photo finish, 15:33.79 to 15:33.91. (baa.org) The race opened Boston Marathon weekend on a damp, chilly morning and sent 9,306 finishers from Boston Common to Boylston Street. The course ends at the same finish line the marathon will use on Monday, April 20, for the 130th running of the race. (baa.org) (issuu.com) The 5K is part of a full Saturday program built around shorter races and crowd-friendly loops in Back Bay before the marathon takes over the region. The B.A.A. Invitational Mile also runs on Boylston Street, with pro, high school, and middle school races finishing at the marathon line. (baa.org) In the 2026 Invitational Mile, Eric Holt won the men’s pro race in 4:06.64 and Dorcus Ewoi won the women’s race in 4:29.73. Those results added another set of elite performances to a weekend that functions as Boston’s last competitive checkpoint before the marathon. (watchathletics.com) The wheelchair division used the 5K as a sharper preview for Monday. Marcel Hug won Saturday’s wheelchair race in 10:25, and Tatyana McFadden won the women’s wheelchair race in 12:29. (baa.org) Hug will return Monday as the defending Boston Marathon wheelchair champion and an eight-time winner in the race. The official 2026 marathon program lists his 1:15:33 course record, set in 2024, and says he enters this year’s race seeking another title. (issuu.com) By Sunday, the headline from Boston’s opening weekend was simple: Yihune arrived with a record, Hambese arrived with a repeat, and the city had already filled Boylston Street before the marathon starters line up in Hopkinton. (baa.org)
