Obiri a late entrant in next month's Boston Marathon

Having made her marathon debut on 6 November at the New York City Marathon, Hellen Obiri has been included in the deep Boston Marathon elite field.

This will be the Colorado-based On Athletics Club- athlete's second race in the classic distance.

She had initially indicated that she could race in London or Tokyo but was announced as a late addition in Boston, a race set for 17 April.

Kipchoge adds course records to his World Marathon Majors targets

The two-time world 5000m champion who made the switch to marathon last year just a few months after winning silver in 10,000m at the World Championships began her 2023 defending her Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Cross country 10km title.

On the road, she started her 2023 season with a bang, winning UAE’s RAK Half Marathon in February in 65:05.

She followed that up with a 67:21 at the New York City Half Marathon two weeks ago, a course record.

Obiri owns the fifth-fastest half-marathon result in history, with a personal best of 1:04:22 from February 2022.

This past week, Obiri made headlines on Strava as she did a 25-mile long run at 2:25 marathon pace with her OAC training partner Joe Klecker of the U.S.

The decision to run Boston was made following her victory in New York.

“Physically, I think she’s ready for it,” coach Dathan Ritzenhein told international media after the NYC Half. “Mentally, we’ve got to make sure she’s really turned on for it. The marathon is not something you can just go into and just hope to do well,” added the coach.

The Kenyan goes up against what has been touted as the best field in the history of the marathon. The field has16 women who have run faster than 2:21 and nine who have broken 2:20.

Boston’s difficult, hilly course has made it tough for competitors. Only five editions have seen the winner break 2:22. However, with the stellar field assembled for this year, Buzunesh Deba’s 2014 course record of 2:19:58 could definitely be in danger on April 17.

Reigning world champion Gotytom Gebreslase of Ethiopia headlines the field after running a personal best of 2:18:11 at the Eugene championship this past summer.

The 27-year-old won the 2021 Berlin Marathon in her debut at the distance and has finished no worse than third at Abbott World Marathon Majors, placing third in both the Tokyo and New York City Marathons in 2022

Kenya's contingent is led by 2022 New York City Marathon champion Sharon Lokedi with Mary Ngugi and Edna Kiplagat all set to compete for a podium place.