RUNNING

Robert Cheruiyot is well-versed in the Boston Marathon course, with four victories in five trips from Hopkinton to the Back Bay. Abderrahime Bouramdane visited for the first time yesterday, learning what thousands before him have come to understand as they reached Heartbreak Hill, 20 miles in.

“Up,” he said, “is the problem.” Cheruiyot pulled away from Bouramdane as they entered the Newton Hills, reaching the crest of Heartbreak Hill with a 27-second lead and coasting to the sixth-fastest time in Boston Marathon history.

Dire Tune outkicked Alevtina Biktimirova after a back-and-forth last mile to win by 2 seconds in the closest finish in the history of the women’s race. Cheruiyot, of Kenya, and Tune, of Ethiopia, each earned a recently enhanced prize of $150,000 — the biggest in major marathon history.

Cheruiyot won in 2 hours, 7 minutes, 46 seconds to become the fourth man to win the race four times. After crossing the finish line, he dropped to his knees to kiss the ground before standing up and counting off his four victories with an upraised arm.

Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France seven times on the strength of his work in the mountains. When he started preparing for Boston, his third marathon, some race veterans told him the hills weren’t as difficult as their reputation made them out to be. “They were wrong,” said Armstrong, who finished 496th in 2:50:58. “They are harder, and they do come at a difficult time in the race.”

NHL HOCKEY

BRODEUR, LUNDQVIST, NABOKOV ARE FINALISTS FOR VEZINA

New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur, Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers, and San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov are finalists for the Vezina Trophy given to the NHL’s top goaltender.

Brodeur won the trophy for the third time last year. It is the eighth time he is a finalist.

Lundqvist and Nabokov have never won the award. Lundqvist is a finalist for the third straight season. He was third in 2006 and 2007.

The winner will be named at the league’s awards show on June 12 in Toronto.

OVECHKIN SCORES TWICE IN THIRD TO SEND CAPS TO GAME 7

Alex Ovechkin truly was “Alexander the Great” with the Washington Capitals’ season on the line.

Held without a goal for four straight games, Ovechkin scored twice in the third period to lift the Capitals to a 4–2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers last night and send the series back to Washington for a decisive Game 7.

The Capitals have rallied back from a 3–1 hole and have a chance to win only the second Game 7 in franchise history Tuesday night. The other one should be painfully familiar to the Flyers faithful: Dale Hunter scored an overtime goal that led Washington past Philadelphia 20 years ago this month.

PRICE’S SHUTOUT ADVANCES HABS

Carey Price got his second shutout and Andrei Kostitsyn scored twice to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 5–0 win over the Boston Bruins on Monday night in the deciding game of their first-round playoff series.

Price stopped 25 shots overall, including 11 shots in the opening period. He got his first playoff shutout in a 1–0 win in Game 4.

Mike Komisarek opened the scoring 3:31 in amid one of the first of countless roars from the raucous Bell Centre crowd over the course of the evening.

BASKETBALL

SPURS’ GINOBILI WINS SIXTH MAN AWARD

San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili — good enough to be a starter on about any team — won the NBA’s sixth man award given to the league’s best reserve yesterday.

Ginobili led the Spurs in scoring, averaging a career-high 19.5 points to go with 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists. Ginobili came off the bench in 51 of the 74 games he played this season.

“I really don’t care about coming from the bench if that helps the team to win a championship,” Ginobili said.

SKILES TAKES OVER AS BUCKS COACH

The Milwaukee Bucks have introduced new coach Scott Skiles. The move comes less than a week after the firing of Larry Krystkowiak. The 44-year-old Skiles brings extensive NBA head coaching experience and a disciplinarian approach to Milwaukee. That’s something the Bucks didn’t necessarily get from their two previous coaches, Krystkowiak and Terry Stotts.