Chelsea Clinton, the former first daughter and vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, finished the 130th running of the Boston Marathon on Monday in a personal best of 3 hours, 40 minutes, 52 seconds, shaving close to four minutes off the time she posted at New York in November.
Clinton, 46, covered the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boylston Street at an average pace of roughly 8:25 per mile. She crossed the line to find her parents waiting: former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had spent part of the afternoon posing for selfies with runners and other spectators while they waited for their daughter.
Bill Clinton placed the finisher’s medal around her neck. Hillary Clinton carried a banner for the occasion. Before leaving the finish area, the couple shook hands with a spectator representing Team Just Because, a fundraising group supporting the Semper Fi Fund.
Clinton was greeted at the line by 2014 Boston champion Meb Keflezighi, the last American man to win the race. Keflezighi served as an announcer for this year’s broadcast.
A seasoned marathoner
Monday was Clinton’s seventh marathon, according to her athlinks.com profile. She has run the New York City Marathon four times, most recently in November 2025, where she posted 3:44:22. The Boston result cuts 3 minutes and 30 seconds off that mark and stands as the fastest time she has recorded at the distance.
Runners need a qualifying time, a charity bib, or an invitational entry to start in Hopkinton. The Boston Athletic Association does not publicly confirm how individual entrants qualified, and Clinton’s team did not announce her participation before race day.
Other names in the field
Boston 2026 drew a long list of recognizable runners across a wide range of finishing times. Retired Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara, who stands 6 feet 9 inches, ran 3:18:00. Des Linden, the 2018 Boston women’s champion, took second in the women’s masters division in 2:35:49.
Retired NASA astronaut Suni Williams finished in 5:52:49. Amby Burfoot, who won Boston in 1968, crossed in 5:11:29, continuing a streak that stretches back nearly six decades.
The field also included Dropkick Murphys multi-instrumentalist Jeff DaRosa, former U.S. women’s national team soccer player Kristine Lilly, former NBA player Chris Herren, Boston comedian Laura Green, and “Love Island USA” Season 7 winner Bryan Arenales.
