Keflezighi becomes first American man to win Boston Marathon in 31 years

Zee Media Bureau

Boston: Meb Keflezighi became the first American man to win the Boston Marathon in 31 years. The 31-year-old Eritrean-born beat Wilson Chebet to win the coveted title in two hours, eight minutes and 37 seconds.

Chebet was followed by his Kenyan compatriot Kenyan Franklin Chepkwony, who clocked 2:08:50. His win ended a more than two-decade old domination by runners from Kenya or Ethiopia.Greg Meyer, in 1983, was the last American man to win the title.

In the women`s section, Rita Jeptoo completed her hat-trick winning the race in a record time. The defending champion from Kenya had won her first Boston title in 2006. Her timing of 2:18:57 beat the course record by nearly two minutes and it was the eighth fastest women`s marathon ever recorded on any course.

Before the start of the race, a moment of silence was observed by a field of 35,755 runners from 95 nations for the victims of two bombs blasts near the finish line last year, killing three people and injuring more than 250 others.

With Agency inputs