The 2015 Boston Marathon champions, Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa and Kenya's Caroline Rotich, will return to the historic event this Monday and try to defend their crowns against tough fields of past champions and global medalists. 

Caroline Rotich & Lelisa Desisa playlists!#BostonMarathon#RunBoldhttps://t.co/Kb7hNjNArZhttps://t.co/bWrG6GkiMA pic.twitter.com/aKBmVTy21m

— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) April 11, 2016

Find the complete list of elite athletes in the 2016 Boston Marathon here!

Can Lelisa Desisa Become Ninth Man to Win Three Boston Marathons?

Lelisa Desisa has a target on his back. The 2015 and 2013 winner in Boston returns after running a loaded schedule (four marathons!!) in 2015. In January, he won the Houston Half Marathon in 60:37, and appears to be in good form. If he can stay mentally focused, who can beat him? Boston course record-holder Geoffrey Mutai recently removed himself from competition due to “not meeting training goals,” so that’s one less guy hunting Desisa down.

Kenyan Sammy Kitwara, the 2015 Chicago runner-up, most recently won the Lisbon Half Marathon in 59:47. This will be Kitwara’s Boston debut, and he has yet to win a major marathon, but he’s never finished worse than sixth at this distance. However, all of his PBs come from the flat and fast Chicago course, so it’s tough to say how he’ll fare over the Boston terrain.



Tsegaye Mekonnen of Ethiopia ran 2:04:32 to win Dubai in 2014 at the age of 18 -- 18, people! Now that he’s more experienced (he finished third in Dubai in January), perhaps this will be Mekonnen’s time to shine. 

Mekonnen’s Ethiopian compatriot, Yemane Adhane Tsegay, finished runner-up to Desisa in 2015. He went on to earn silver in the Beijing World Championships marathon and later placed fifth at the New York City Marathon. Not too shabby, right? He’s come so close to winning so many times, but most recently ran 62:53 in a half marathon in Japan, which didn't even crack the top 20. What’s. Up. With. That?

Can 2012 Boston champion Wesley Korir, armed with a modest (compared to the names listed above) 2:06 best, reclaim glory? Korir is an important figure for the sport and a politician in Kenya, where he recently helped draft a bill to establish the anti-doping agency and punish offenders. Currently, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is investigating whether Kenya is compliant with the WADA code. Korir became a hero after winning Boston in 2012, and could do it again on the right day.

After a Surprising 2015 Victory, Caroline Rotich Faces Tough Field on Road to Repeat

Caroline Rotich won the 2015 race in a sprint to the finish against the talented Mare Dibaba to win her first World Marathon Majors race. The 2016 women’s field features nine athletes with faster times than Rotich and a large contingent of Ethiopians eyeing to taking her down, including the 2012 Olympic marathon champion Tiki Gelana. 

Making her Boston Marathon debut, Gelana of Ethiopia is armed with a 2:18 PB and Olympic glory. She finished third in Tokyo in 2015, but saw less success in 2013 and 2014. Perhaps she’s prepping for another shot at an Olympic title, and taking Boston is on her checklist. 



Buzunesh Deba of Ethiopia finished third in 2015 and runner-up in 2014. She has not won a major marathon since 2011, but has seen several runner-up and third-place finishes. She recently placed 12th (74:39) in the New York City Half Marathon -- that's six minutes slower than her runner-up NYC finish in 2014, which was one month prior to her 2:19 PB performance in Boston. 

Compatriot Tirfi Tsegaye has won four marathons in the past four years. She won Dubai in January, and took 2014 titles in Berlin and Tokyo. The woman knows how to win. She’s also coming off a 2:19 PB from Dubai, so it will be interesting to see how she recovers.

And then there’s Joyce Chepkirui of Kenya, who finished second to Molly Huddle in the NYC Half Marathon last month in a controversial finish. Yes, she only finished 10th in Boston last year, but has improved (four-minute PB of 2:24 in Amsterdam last October!) and appears as fit as can be right now.

Basically, it’s a wide open field that will surely make it an exciting race to watch.

What About the Americans?

With the Olympic Trials only two months in the past, most of the American elites will not run the streets of Boston. But we will see a small group of athletes individually armed with different stories.

Ian Burrell, who was the top American (25th) at the World Championships this summer, was planning on hanging up the racing flats after Beijing and did not enter himself in the Olympic Trials. The opportunity to run Boston arose, however, and he seized it. This will be the last marathon for Burrell, who is a full-time lawyer in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and has a career spanning nearly a decade.

Girma Mecheso was a standout at Oklahoma State and will make his marathon debut in Boston. In 2015, he ran 62:16 (third place) in Houston in his half marathon debut and recorded several top-10 finishes at the U.S. road championships. Half marathons don’t always translate into immediate marathon success, but Mecheso has the credentials (sub-28:00 10K in college, a quick half marathon debut) to put something together.

Sarah Crouch finished the 2015 Chicago Marathon just shy of her 2:32:44 PB. Though she planned on contending for an Olympic spot in Los Angeles, injury struck, and Crouch was forced to withdraw. She will run Boston with the sole focus of finishing as the top American. Though doable, one woman could stand (or run?) in her way.

Neely Spence Gracey will make her marathon debut after running a 69:59 half marathon in 2015. Like Crouch, she intended to run the Trials, but suffered an injury and shifted her focus to Boston. She’s run two half marathons in 2016, most recently finishing 10th in New York in 73:17. Anything can happen in a debut, but the battle between Crouch and Gracey could be quite interesting.