Galen Rupp and Jordan Hasay turn in historic finishes at the Boston Marathon

Editors’ Note: I received an email on Monday from a reader upset that we had no coverage of Jordan Hasay and Galen Rupp absolutely crushing it at the Boston Marathon. Normally, I would be the one writing this recap in the moments after this happened, but as the two were celebrating their victory at the finish line, I was also running the Boston Marathon, about 5-6 miles behind, vomiting three times on the side of the course as my body fought off dehydration and heat exhaustion. But here’s the recap, better late than never!

On Monday at the 121st running of the Boston Marathon, a pair of former Ducks had a historic performance at the world’s most prestigious marathon.

Jordan Hasay and Galen Rupp both battled deceptively hot conditions, both finishing on the podium in a stacked field full of past champions.

The whole field had to deal with a tough day out on the roads between Hopkinton and Boston. The day before the race, temperatures soared into the mid-80’s when an unexpected heat wave hit the area. Temperatures dipped on Monday, but not enough for ideal running conditions. At the start of the race, it was already in the high-60’s with almost no cloud cover. By the finish, tempeatures were pushing up into the low-70’s. For most runners, optimal temperatures for the marathon range closer to 45-50 degrees.

Rupp finished in second place in his Boston Marathon debut, just 21 seconds behind Kenya's Geoffrey Kirui, who would win the race with a time of 2:09:37. Rupp hung on with Kirui up until the 24th mile. It was then that Kirui threw down a surge move that Rupp wasn’t able to answer.

Rupp’s marathon resume now includes a debut win at the US Olympic Trials, an Olympic bronze medal and a second place finish at the Boston Marathon.

Hasay had an equally impressive day, finishing third overall in the women’s race with a time of 2:23:00, beating out fellow American Desi Linden, who finished fourth. Linden was one of the pre-race contenders to win.

Hasay’s time is the fastest debut ever by an American woman. The previous debut record was set by Kara Goucher, who ran a 2:25:53 at the 2008 New York City Marathon. Hasay also ran the fourth fastest time ever by an American woman. Only Deena Kastor (who holds the American record of 2:19:36 set in 2006) and Joan Benoit Samuelson (2:21:21 at the 1985 Chicago Marathon) have run faster times than Hasay.