Roughly 20 elite women will toe the line on April 18 for the 115th running of the Boston Marathon, and any of them could break the tape on Boylston Street. Sixteen racers have logged times of 2:26 or better. Four of them have won in Boston before. Here are seven to watch:
The Americans
No American woman has won the Boston Marathon since 1985, but each of these three could be the first.
The comeback kid
Kara Goucher, 32
Kara Goucher -- the third-fastest American marathoner ever -- is on the comeback trail, after giving birth to her first child in September. Since returning to racing in January, she's struggled to regain her competitive form and finished seventh at February's National Cross Country Championships. But don't count her out in Boston. A bronze medalist in the 10,000 meters at the 2008 Olympics, Goucher finished third at her first marathon in New York in 2008 and came tantalizingly close to winning Boston in 2009, finishing third again, nine seconds behind winner Salina Kosgei of Kenya. Hers was the best finish for an American since 1993.
Fastest marathon time: 2:25:52 (2008)
The up-and-comer
Desiree Davila, 27
Every time Desiree Davila has run a marathon, she's gotten faster. Last October, the 27-year-old Arizona State graduate ran a blistering 2:26:20 at the Chicago Marathon to finish fourth. That time also made her the fourth-fastest American marathoner of all time; only Deena Kastor, Joan Benoit Samuelson and Goucher have run faster. She ran her first Boston Marathon in 2007, finishing 19th (2:44:56). Since then, she has placed fifth at the Chicago Marathon (2008) and 11th, one spot behind Goucher, with a 2:27:53 at the IAAF World Championships Marathon in 2009.
Fastest marathon time: 2:26:20 (2010)
The veteran
Blake Russell, 35
Olympian Blake Russell, pictured above, is back to competitive racing, after the birth of her first child in April 2009, and most recently finished fifth in the 2011 Cross Country National Championships. Over the past decade, Russell has had success at shorter events like the 3K, 5K and 10K, and intermittent success at the marathon. She won her debut, the Twin Cities Marathon, in 2003, placed sixth at the 2005 Chicago Marathon with a PR of 2:29:10 and finished third at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials (going on to finish 27th in Beijing).
Fastest marathon time: 2:29:10 (2005)
The rest of the world
The American runners have their work cut out for them in 2011. Four previous Boston champions are among the contenders this year, and eight of the international racers have run faster than the Americans' fastest times in the past year. Here are four to know:
The finisher
Dire Tune, 25
Ethiopia
Dire Tune has already proved she knows how to race Boston. The 25-year-old Ethiopian outsprinted Russian Alevtina Biktimirova at the 2008 race to win by two seconds. She came very close to winning again in 2009, falling behind Salina Kosgei -- another favorite for 2011 -- in the final sprint and collapsing at the finish line. Tune pulled out of last year's race with stomach issues, but is at the top of her game: In October, she finished second at the Frankfurt Marathon behind Kenya's Caroline Kilel, running a new personal best of 2:23:44. She also proved her fitness with a 1:08:52 half-marathon in February.
Fastest marathon time: 2:23:44 (2010)
The defending champ
Teyba Erkesso, 28
Ethiopia
At last year's Boston Marathon, Teyba Erkesso ran away from the field and held off a thrilling late charge by Russian Tatyana Pushkareva to nab her first major marathon title. This year, the 28-year-old Ethiopian is back to defend her title. Erkesso spent a decade excelling at shorter distances and cross country before transitioning to the marathon, where she claimed back-to-back wins in 2009 and 2010 at Houston and led much of the Chicago Marathon in 2009 before ultimately finishing fourth. Look for her to push the field hard midway through the race.
Fastest marathon time: 2:23:53 (2010)
The dark horse
Kim Smith, 29
New Zealand
Marathoners often use half-marathons to gauge their fitness before a big race, and in February, New Zealand's Kim Smith proved she's a contender for Boston with a 1:07:36 at the Rock 'n' Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon in New Orleans, the fastest half-marathon ever run on U.S. soil. Smith didn't complete her first marathon, at New York in 2008, but since then ran a 2:25:21 at the 2010 London Marathon and finished fifth in last November's New York City Marathon. She holds every New Zealand national record from the 3,000 meters to the marathon.
Fastest marathon time: 2:25:21 (2010)
The legend
Catherine Ndereba, 38
Kenya
Kenya's Catherine Ndereba has been called the greatest women's marathoner of all time. The former world-record holder, four-time Boston champion (2000, '01, '04, '05), 2008 Olympic silver medalist, two-time Chicago Marathon champ and two-time world champ is still among the world's best, although she was injured for most of last year and hasn't won a major marathon in several years (she finished seventh at the 2009 London Marathon). If the race is slow and tactical, Ndereba's experience (with 17 top-three finishes at major world marathons) could propel her to an upset.
Fastest marathon time: 2:18:47 (2001)
