"It was relieving. You do it one time, and [think] OK that was lucky," Rojas said, emphasizing how much the second-straight top American finisher meant to her. "You do it more, you believe in yourself more and realize you could compete with these people and you're one of them."

The men's race played out very differently than the women's, with a pack of 15 still together on Heartbreak Hill. Evans Chebet was heeding pre-race advice from training partner Benson Kipruto, the defending Boston champion, who told him "Don't be behind the pack. Let's be close, and you can do it."

At Mile 21, Chebet surged ahead.

"I was confident that move would do it," he said later.

Although Gabriel Geay of Tanzania briefly went with him, it would be past Boston champions Lawrence Cherono (2019) and Kipruto looming in the distance who posed the most credible threat to Chebet's charge.

But Chebet never looked back, breaking the tape in 2:06:51. Cherono followed in 2:07:21, with Kipruto third in 2:07:27. The top American, Scott Fauble, was seventh in 2:08:52, a personal best.

Chebet, retracing the path away from the grueling conditions of his previous attempt, was all smiles. "In 2018, I sat down on the curb at 15K. I just sat down. I said, 'I'm never coming here again.' My manager, he said 'the weather will be better. You should go. Maybe you will win.'"

Race morning was less suspenseful for Romanchuk and Schär, two forces on the professional wheelchair circuit. The former defeated runner-up Aaron Pike, 1:26:58 to 1:32:49; the latter bested American Susannah Scaroni, 1:41:08 to 1:46:20. Scaroni was competing for the first time since being hit by a car while training last year.

"This one was special," said Schär, barely recovered after a bout with COVID-19 just weeks before race day. "The crowd kind of saved my life today."

Peres Jepchirchir became the first athlete in history to win the Boston Marathon, New York City Marathon, AND an Olympic gold medal in the marathon…and she did it all within 254 days!

Aside from Peres, only four other athletes have won both Boston and Olympic Marathon gold: Joan Benoit Samuelson, Rosa Mota, Fatuma Roba, and Gelindo Bordin.

Evans Chebet avenged a 2018 DNF to earn his first Boston win in 2:06:51.

ONE-TWO FINISH:

With Daniel Romanchuk and Aaron Pike's one-two finish, it was the first time since 1991 that Americans finished first and second in the men's wheelchair division. Romanchuk won his second Boston title, while Pike's placing was a career-high in Boston. Just months before lining up in Hopkinton, Pike was competing for Team USA at the Winter Paralympics in cross-country skiing and biathlon.

EVEN EVANS

Did you know men's champion Evans Chebet ran nearly identical splits of 1:03:26 and 1:03:25 for the first and second halves? His 2:06:51 winning time ranks as the eighth-fastest in Boston history.