With the 130th Boston Marathon twenty-four hours away, a deep and increasingly experienced American contingent rolls into Hopkinton carrying a familiar question. No US runner has climbed onto either podium at a World Marathon Majors race since Des Linden's 2018 victory on Boylston Street, the longest combined men's and women's drought since the series was established in 2006, and a cool, westerly forecast has once again raised hopes that the 2026 edition might be the one that breaks it.
Emily Sisson, the domestic women's record holder at 2:18:29, leads a group of nine American women who have all run faster than 2:25, six of them under 2:23. Sisson has spoken publicly about wanting more than a top-American finish this year, telling LetsRun that her ambition is a major podium rather than a nominal domestic win, and her spring build in Arizona has been described by coach Ray Treacy as the strongest block of her career. Behind her, Susanna Sullivan, Jessica McClain, Dakotah Popehn and Annie Frisbie all have recent sub-2:25 form and will be watching for an opening if the early pace is honest rather than blistering.
On the men's side, the US field has been reshaped by the late withdrawal of American record holder Conner Mantz, who pulled out three weeks ago citing a lack of fitness after a troubled spring. That leaves the burden on CJ Albertson, running his sixth consecutive Boston and still the most adventurous front-runner in the field; on Wesley Kiptoo and Ryan Ford, both of whom finished in last year's top fifteen; and on a 39-year-old Galen Rupp, the 2017 runner-up who turns forty on 8 May and who arrives without the pre-race buzz of previous Boston appearances. None of the eight American men in the elite field has broken 2:09 in the last twelve months.
The course itself remains unforgiving to plans that depend on metronomic pacing. Boston's net-downhill profile, the early plunge out of Hopkinton and the late Newton hills punish runners who arrive at the 30km mark having pushed too hard too soon, a pattern that has ended more than one American podium bid in recent years. Several US coaches contacted this week stressed that the best path to a top-three finish is likely to be a patient first half followed by a willingness to move decisively through the hills, rather than chasing the splits posted by John Korir and Benson Kipruto at the front.
Monday's forecast, with start-line temperatures in the upper 30s (Fahrenheit), a modest westerly tailwind and only a low threat of spotty showers, is about as favourable as Boston offers. If an American is going to finish in the top three it will almost certainly need to happen on a day like this one, and the combination of Sisson's fitness, the experience in both fields and the late storyline of a returning Rupp will give US supporters something concrete to follow between Hopkinton and Boylston. Whether that is enough to end an eight-year wait is the question that will hang over Monday's race.