Breaking Down The 2019 Boston Marathon Field

The 2019 version of the Boston Marathon will be hard pressed to outdo the memory of Des Linden and Yuki Kawauchi stealing the race in a downpour of freezing rain. However, the field this year still looks to put on a show — the purpose of this piece today is break down the elite field and to tell you their greatest storylines heading into the 2019 race. I will be breaking this down into 4 categories between the men’s and women’s race, I won’t include all 50+ athletes.

The Defending Champs.

Des Linden & Yuki Kawauchi

You know the story by now, on a cold rainy day down on Boylston Street — 2 underdogs took down the favorites by being the strongest runners on the day. Last year’s race was a struggle that saw the majority of pro runners in the race drop out before the halfway point and saw a runner like Sarah Sellers come in 2nd by simply outlasting everyone else. So then it makes sense that the 2 runners who were able to show the most guts over 26.2 rain-soaked miles were the ones who came away victorious. That being said, I really don’t see any way they can repeat this year… I love Des as a runner and I love Yuki for his propensity to race a ridiculous amount of marathons every year, but I don’t believe they have the speed to challenge the likes of Dibaba, Meskerem Assefa, Lawrence Cherono…