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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter

LONG-distance runner Isaac Mpofu got a place inside the top 20 at the Boston Marathon on Monday.

Evans Chebet winning the Boston Marathon

Defending champion Evans Chebet of Kenya retained his title after winning the race in time of 2:05:54.

Hellen Obiri, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 5,000m, won the women’s race in a sprint to finish in 2:21:38 to complete the Kenyan sweep.

Hellen Obiri

Kipchoge, a 12-time major marathon winner, was sixth. Scott Fauble was the top American, finishing seventh. Highly rated Kipchoge was hoping to add a Boston Marathon victory to his unprecedented running resume but it was not to be as he finished a disappointing sixth.

For Mpofu, this was good preparation for the World Championships later in the year.

The 2023 World Athletics Championships, the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, are scheduled to be held from 19 August to 27 August 2023 in Budapest, Hungary.

Mpofu became the first Zimbabwean to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Mpofu qualified with the time he ran at the 2022 Valencia Marathon where he finished a credible 12th, with a time of two hours, six minutes, and 48 seconds. -@innocentskizoe