It came on a good day for Switzerland which also saw Manuela Schar shatter the women's record mark by more than five minutes in a race in which four-time defending champion Tatyana McFadden finished fourth.

Helped by a strong tailwind in the second half of the race, Schar powered to victory in 1hour 28min 17sec.

It marked her first win in Boston to follow the 2002 and 2006 victories achieved by fellow Swiss Edith Hunkeler.

It also smashed the course record of 1:34.06 set by Wakako Tsuchida of Japan in 2011. 

Times are not valid for world record purposes due to the point-to-point and net downhill nature of the course.

Amanda McGrory finished a distant second but still went under the old record mark in 1:33.13.

Susannah Scaroni took third a further four seconds back while McFadden completed the US 2-3-4 by finishing in 1:35.05.

The 17-time Paralympic medalist had undergone surgery two weeks ago to treat blood clots.

She was, however, named the winner of the World Marathon Majors series.

Hug took a third successive win and men's World Marathon Majors title after sprinting away from van Dyk to finish in a course record 1:18.04.

It took 22 seconds off the mark set by Canadian Joshua Cassidy in 2012, 

Dyk was just a second behind as Japan’s Hiroyuki Yamamoto finished third in 1:19:32.