Kosgei, Merga run to first

American Kara Goucher ripped off the gloves she wore for the first 25 miles and threw them to the pavement.

The sprint was on.

Kenya’s Salina Kosgei outkicked Goucher, of Portland, Ore., and defending champion Dire Tune in the last mile of the Boston Marathon on Monday, going back and forth with Tune in the final blocks of Boylston Street to win the closest women’s finish in event history.

Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga won the men’s race, with Ryan Hall picking up another third place for the Americans -- their best showing in more than 20 years.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this, and I’ve been in the Rose Parade. So that’s a pretty big deal,” said Hall, of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., who finished 10th in the Olympics and threw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game over the weekend.

“The bar’s continuing to get raised, and I think it’s time for Americans to step up and meet the challenge. It’s just going to keep getting better and better and faster and faster. . . . I know I have a lot to learn. But it’s exciting.”

Hall took the early lead with a blistering pace and was shoulder-to-shoulder with the leaders until they passed from Wellesley into Newton, with about 10 miles to go. Merga had pulled away by the bottom of Heartbreak Hill, winning in 2 hours 8 minutes 42 seconds -- 50 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Daniel Rono of Kenya, with Hall another eight seconds back.

Merga led much of the Olympic marathon last summer before he wilted in the Beijing heat and was passed in the last quarter-mile, finishing fourth.

His victory Monday gave Ethiopia its second in five years; Kenyans had won in 16 of the last 18 years, and will have to be satisfied with a women’s title, its seventh since the turn of the century.

“Boston is one of the biggest marathons in the world,” Merga said. “Because of that, our people are very happy.”

The men seemed undaunted by a stiff headwind that helped slowed the women to a methodical pace -- 6:28 for the first mile. Though the elite women were given a half-hour head start, Merga began passing the stragglers as he left Wellesley and threatened to catch the leaders. After finishing, he had to wait for his laurel wreath because Kosgei had not had a chance to climb the podium.

No American has won in Boston since 1985, when Lisa Larsen-Weidenbach led a U.S. sweep of the top three women’s spots and the men came in second and third.