Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia was the men’s winner in the Boston Marathon, Mon., April 20, for the second time in three years, and Caroline Rotich of Kenya outkicked Mare Dibaba of Ethiopia in a dramatic finish to win the women’s race by only four seconds!

The weather was a problem at Boston this year (chilly morning, wind blowing into the face of the runners), but Desisa, who’s 25, was just too strong and too good to be denied on this less-than-perfect day for running as he hit the finish line in 2:09:17, more than half a minute ahead of his countryman, Yemane Adhane Tsegay.

Desisa’s time was more than a minute faster than the 2:10:22 he ran in winning the 2013 Boston Marathon, which was marred by the bombings some two hours after Desisa had completed the race.

Caroline Rotich won the woman’s race in 2:24:55 on Monday as she exuberantly sliced down at the tape with a clenched right fist at the finish line after her all-out effort over the final 35 meters gave her a narrow victory over Dibaba. The four-second differential between the two made this one of the closest women’s finishes in history. Kenyans have now won the Boston women’s race six of the last seven years.

Lelisa Desisa, a hugely talented runner from faraway Ethiopia, has become all but an honorary citizen of Boston for his compassion and humanitarianism in the months following those horrendous bombings. Jere Longman of The New York Times wrote about Desisa before last year’s Boston Marathon: “Last June, Desisa returned his first-place gold medal – gold-plated with a diamond stud and framed – to the city of Boston in a public ceremony on the Boston Common.  Privately, he gave his racing bib to a woman who lost her lower leg and her husband who was also seriously injured.”

In returning his winner’s medal, which is now on permanent display in Boston, Desisa had said, “I want people to know I feel the pain.”

Now, of course, Desisa, who's also been quoted as saying, “Sports holds the power to unify and connect people all over the world,” has won another first-place gold medal in Boston, one he’ll surely keep this time. It probably won’t be his last at Boston, considering his ability.

Desisa was a track specialist before he switched to the roads and made his marathon debut in 2013 – that’s right, 2013, the year he won Boston the first time, was actually his first year running the marathon! And what a phenomenal first year it was…

After posting personal bests of 13:22.91 in the 5000 and 27:18.17 in the 10,000 on the track, and becoming an alternate in the 10,000 meters on the Ethiopian Olympic team for the 2012 London Olympics, although he did not compete in London, he entered the 2013 Dubai Marathon and won in a stunning time of 2:04:45, which was one of the fastest marathon debuts in history and surprised even him. He followed that up by winning at Boston, and finally at the 2013 World Track & Field Championships in Moscow, Russia, he won a silver medal in the marathon on a warm day, running 2:10:12 to finish only 13 seconds behind the winner, Stephen Kiprotich of Kenya. Not a bad first year for a marathon beginner!

Last year, of course, he gave former world marathon record holder Wilson Kipsang of Kenya a real battle in the New York City Marathon before Kipsang finally pulled away at the end.

Clearly, Lelisa Desisa is a force to be reckoned with in the marathon – as he proved once again in Boston on Monday. A huge pack of elite runners forced a very fast early pace, with Desisa one of the main instigators. The pace ultimately slowed, but when the race came down to the crucial final miles, the ones left in front were the two Ethiopians, Desisa and Tsegay, and the Kenyan Wilson Chebet. The latter gave way and now it was down to the Ethiopians. Tsegay actually pushed ahead at one point, but over the last few miles it was Desisa, who later said he knew at 35K he would win, running on his own and widening his lead.