The 2025 Boston Marathon proved to be one of the most exceptional races in the 129-year history of the event. It was marked by near-perfect weather conditions, compelling elite competition, new racing shoes, and fast times and new personal bests from the front of the pack to the back.
The race was the fastest in Boston Marathon history, based on the average time among the top 15 for men (2:07:25) and women (2:22:34). That’s at least in part because of the fast new shoes that elite athletes were wearing from ASICS, Brooks, Under Armour, Nike, Adidas, and Puma that you’ll be able to consider for your next marathon when they start being released to the public this spring and summer.
Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi had the most impressive day on the course, holding off a late charge by two-time defending champion and countrywoman Hellen Obiri to smash the women’s course record with a 2:17:22 clocking. Lokedi, the 2022 New York City Marathon champion, was second to Obiri in Boston last year and also finished fourth in last summer’s Olympic marathon, one place behind Obiri.
Obiri (2:17:41) and third-place finisher Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia (2:18:06) also finished under the old record. Lokedi, who ran collegiately for the University of Kansas from 2015-2019, was wearing a prototype of Under Armour’s Velociti Elite 3 shoe that is expected to come out in 2026. Obiri, who narrowly missed becoming the first threepeat winner in Boston since 1999, wore the semi-custom On Cloudboom Strike LS, which feature a unique spray-on upper construction. It’s still not known when that version of the shoe will become available to the public (with a $330 price tag), but the Cloudboom Strike (sans the fancy upper) has been out since last year.
John Korir’s day almost ended in the early meters of the race, when he fell after his first strides off the starting line after being clipped from behind. After tucking his detached race bib – which included his timing chip – into his shorts, Korir stuck with the lead pack until turning on the jets near the top of Heartbreak Hill at mile 21 and gapping the rest of the runners in the lead pack. From there, he went on to win in 2:04:45, the third-fastest time in Boston Marathon history.
Korir, a two-time Los Angeles Marathon winner (2021-2022) who won the Chicago Marathon last fall and placed fourth in Boston last year, was wearing a pair of featherweight ASICS MetaSpeed Sky EVO prototypes (4.5 ounces) that will be officially released in May at an big unveling event in Tokyo. (American Clayton Young also wore those shoes en route to placing seventh in a new personal best of 2:07:04.) With the win, Korir continued to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Wesley, who was also a two-time Los Angeles Marathon winner (2009-2010) and the 2012 Boston Marathon champion.
Utah’s Conner Mantz, who helped blast the pack to a 4:32 first mile, setting the stage for a fast race. For his efforts, the man who broke the American record in the half marathon (59:17) in January came within one spot of the podium after a three-way sprint down Boylston against runner-up Alphonce Felix Simbu of Tanzania (2:05:04) and third-place finisher CyBrian Kotut of Kenya (2:05:04).
Although he finished fourth, Mantz’s new personal best of 2:05:08 was the second-fastest time by an American in race history. He wore a pair of Nike Alphafly 3, the same shoe he wore last summer when he finished eighth in the Paris Olympics.
“Getting outkicked for the last 300 meters is a little bitter, but it was still probably my best race I’ve had,” Mantz said. “And so I was very happy about that.”
Meanwhile, Arizona’s Jess McClain was the top American woman in the race, turning in a career-best 2:22:43 to finish seventh overall. After finishing fourth in the U.S. Olympic Trials in both the marathon and the 10,000 meters last year — and thus narrowly missing the U.S. Olympic Team in both events — McClain established herself as one of the best American Boston Marathon runners in history. McClain was wearing a pair of Brooks Hyperion Elite 4 PB shoes that helped her finish eighth in the New York City Marathon last fall.
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Des Linden, a two-time U.S. Olympian and the 2018 Boston Marathon champion, announced her retirement from professional marathon running early on Monday morning with a thoughtful social media post and a full-page ad in the Boston Globe. The 41-year-old then turned in another solid performance, covering the course in 2:26:19 (her fastest time in eight years) to win the master’s division and finish 17th among all pro women. She wore a pair of Brooks Hyperion Elite 5 prototypes that will debut to the public this summer. It was her fifth-fastest time on the course and her fastest since she placed fourth in 2:25:06 in 2017.
“People say you should go out on top, and that’s what I’m doing,” she wrote in her farewell love letter to Boston fans. “Because choosing to race my final professional marathon in Boston is indeed going out on top. I hope you enjoy one last show.
Linden plans to keep on running and will venture into the trail running world this summer when she paces Joe Mcconaughy at the June 28 Western States 100. She also has a race entry for the Tunnel Hill 50-mile trail race in Illinois in November.
Three runners among the men’s top five finishers and three women among the top 10 finishers wore the yet-to-be-released Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2 shoes — the second edition of the brand’s hyperlight $500 racing shoe. Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu and Kenya’s Cybrian Kotut sprinted to 2:05:04 finishes in that shoe, with Simbu getting the nod for second place and Kotut taking third. On the women’s side, Ethiopia’s Amane Beriso led the way in the Adidas shoe with her fifth-place, 2:21:58 effort. (Five total runners among the men’s and women’s top 10 also wore the Nike Alphafly 3, while one wore the Nike Vaporfly 4.)
The Boston Marathon has become an enticing showcase for shoe brands in the days before the race with shakeout runs, new shoe drops, athlete meet-and-greets and even unsanctioned nighttime racing events. While numerous brands offered public events, Puma brought down the house with its Project3 activations tied to the launch of its new Puma Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 shoe. The shoe was validated by a new study at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which concluded that Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 provides 3.15 percent improved running economy — or an estimated 4-minute, 30-second time savings for a 3-hour marathoner.
In January, Puma launched Project3, a first of its kind global running program that offered aspiring age-group runners of the 2025 Boston Marathon and London Marathon the opportunity to experience life as a professional athlete and trial the Fast-R Nitro Elite 3, with the chance to bank huge performance-based cash prizes. Of the 90 runners from 13 countries participating in the program in Boston, 30 beat their previous personal bests and 15 smashed their PRs by more than 3 minutes. The new shoes and the bright orange Puma racing kits had a dominant presence at the front half of the race on Monday, and were the talk of the town on Tuesday.
The fastest male, Joseph Whalen, a 34-year-old two-time U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier from Webster, New York, finished in 20th place overall (and eighth among American runners) in 2:12:16 and knocked 1:23 off his PR, while Canadian Kylee Raftis, a 25-year-old former Boston College runner, finished as the fastest female in the program with a 2:34:41 effort (28th overall among women) after slicing 4:04 off her previous best. Perhaps most impressively, Manuel Diaz Callejero (02:33:35) smashed his previous personal best by a mind-blowing 11:41 wearing the new shoe.
Puma pros Rory Linkletter and Annie Frisbee also wore the Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 and had similarly stunning results. Linkletter, a Canadian runner, ran a 2:07:02 to place sixth overall, shaving 59 seconds off his previous PB, while Frisbee, who was eighth overall (and the second-fastest American, clocked a 2:23:21, shaving 2:57 off her previous best. Ryan Ford, a 27-year-old Puma pro, turned in the best race of his career, finishing 10th overall in 2:08:00 that was 3:08 faster than his breakthrough 11th place finish at last fall’s New York City Marathon.
The landmark study was led by Wouter Hoogkamer, the head of the Integrative Locomotion Laboratory at UMass Amherst (and also the scientist who led the external testing of Nike’s Vaporfly back in 2017). Lab tests showed the Fast-R3 resulted in the lowest metabolic rate across the board as runners burned 3.6 percent less energy wearing the Fast-R3 than they did in the Nike Alphafly 3, and 3.5 percent less than in the Adidas Adios Pro Evo 1.
In case you’re wondering, the Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 will officially go on sale globally on April 25 on PUMA.com, the PUMA mobile app and in select retailers across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia.
