BOSTON — When Emma Bates crossed the finish line at Monday’s Boston Marathon, she became the first American woman — and Minnesota native — to complete the 2023 race.
Bates, originally from Elk River, Minnesota, finished the 26.2-mile contest fifth among the women overall, with a time of 2:22:10 — just 22 seconds behind first-place finisher, Hellen Obiri, from Kenya. The placement also solidified Bates as a favorite to make the three-woman Olympic team at next February’s trials in Orlando, according to NBC Sports.
Bates, who entered Monday’s race with both of her top five world major finishes coming in Chicago, led late in the race before falling back.
Bates moved to the front of a lead pack of about 11 runners around the 15-mile mark and led the group off and on for several miles. It rained off and on for the first half of the race, but held off in the second half.
Emma Bates of Elk River, Minnesota, earned fifth place at the Boston Marathon, the best finish by an American woman. She crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 22 minutes and 10 seconds, a personal best, and secured a qualifying time for the 2024 Olympics. https://t.co/7KzC3d79MU pic.twitter.com/T1prZ1Dw56
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 17, 2023
Israeli Lonah Salpeter took over briefly as Bates fell back in the group around mile 18 in Newton, before Bates moved back ahead of Salpeter to resume setting the pace.
As they hit the next mile, the crowd began chanting, “Emma! Emma!”
Shortly afterward, Bates spotted her coach and shrugged, smiling.
“I was at mile 20 looking at my coach like, ‘I don’t know what’s happening, but I’m going to go with it,’” Bates said. “It was really surreal for the longest time.”
Ababel Yeshaneh, of Ethiopia, who had been in the middle of the lead group, tripped and fell with less than four miles remaining, but quickly picked herself up and was able to continue. That was after another racer also fell around mile 15.
Shortly afterward — at mile 25 — a group led by Obiri, Salpeter, Yeshaneh and fellow Ethiopian Amane Beriso, broke away from Bates.
Obiri and Beriso made it a two-woman race with about a mile to go.
Obiri then made her final move as they came around the stretch before hitting downtown. By the time they were fully onto Boylston her separation was too much for Beriso to overcome.
Meanwhile, Paralympian Aaron Pike, from Park Rapids, Minnesota, placed fourth in the men’s wheelchair race with a time of 1:30:30.