Bates is best hope for American victory

HOPKINTON, Mass. — Emma Bates should be extra weary of the Boston Marathon course today when she tries to improve upon last year’s fifth-place finish.

Not the hills or the headwinds. The potholes.

The 31-year-old former Boston resident stepped in one midway through the Chicago Marathon last fall, tearing a tissue in her foot. She finished 13th but left the course in a wheelchair.

A setback during her recovery forced Bates to withdraw from the Olympic marathon trials in February. So, instead of planning for Paris, Bates is running Boston again a year after she led the pack through Brookline, with the crowd chanting her name.

“That was the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my career, that’s for sure,” she said last week. “Being in the lead and setting myself up for the most success that I could have on that day, it was just really special to know that as long as I trust myself, as long as I go after it, that I can do pretty big things.”

The runner-up in Chicago in 2021, Bates stayed with the lead pack in Boston last year until winner Hellen Obiri led a breakaway with about one mile to go. Bates finished fifth in 2 hours, 22 minutes, 10 seconds – the second-fastest American woman ever in Boston, and 68 seconds better than her previous personal best.

“I’ve learned that I can run with the best of them,” Bates said. “I expect myself to be the top American. The fact that everybody else wants me to be is just more encouragement and support, rather than pressure.”

Obiri, a two-time Olympic medalist, is among the favorites in today’s race, the 128th edition of the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon. Sara Hall, who has reached the podium in two major marathons, joins Bates in a strong American contingent.

A Minnesota native who was an NCAA champion in the 10,000 meters at Boise State, Bates lived locally for two years as part of the Boston Athletic Association’s High Performance Team.

So she knows the course — including the notoriously pock-marked roads that emerge from the long and fickle Boston winters.

“Yes, I will be looking out for those,” she said. “That’s for sure.”

THREE-PEAT

A third straight men’s victory for Evans Chebet would be the first Boston three-peat since Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot won three in a row from 2006-08.