Sunday’s New York City Marathon fields were loaded with Olympic medalists, world record holders and some of the most dominant major marathon winners in recent history.
But 26.2 miles later, the men’s and women’s race winners were none of those things.
First, Sheila Chepkirui took the tape in the women’s race with a thrilling last mile: Outkicking Hellen Obiri and slamming the door on Obiri’s legendary past two years. Chepkirui finished with a time of 2:24:35, a fulfillment of the promise she had flashed for years.
And while she was running away from Obiri, a similar tale unfolded in the men’s race, as Dutch star Abdi Nageeye stunned a loaded field to win his first major. The men’s field was expected to be all about Ethiopian star Tamirat Tola continuing his unprecedented 2024 run, but Nageeye hung in the shadows until it was his time to shine.
Just months after he failed to finish the Olympic marathon in Paris, Nageeye not only completed the New York course Sunday but he got faster as he ran. With a negative split of 62:02 in Sunday’s second half, Nageeye ran away from Evans Chebet, Tola and a historically deep field to win with a time of 2:07:39.
“I was thinking I’m dreaming,” he said after wiping the finish-line tears from his eyes.
“Nobody was believing in me, even the favorites I wasn’t even in the top five. But I knew what I was capable of.”
Tola looked like a fearless champion through the first 20 miles, matching every surge and flashing his Olympic gold-medal fitness on each hill. The winner of the 2023 New York City Marathon and the 2022 World Championship appeared primed to add another piece of valuable hardware to his trophy case.
But in the final 10k, the variables of the marathon finally overcame the inevitability of Tola’s success, and the reigning champion fell off the lead pack as the race appeared to fall into Chebet’s hands. Chebet, a six-time marathon winner and two-time Boston champ, took the lead pack into the final miles, but it was there where Nageeye’s experience with the course paid dividends.
Nageeye’s fourth New York City Marathon finally ended as he has long dreamt, and he said after the race he couldn’t believe it was real. Afterward, he spoke about how his familiarity with the course helped him finally cash in on the race of his lifetime, specifically mentioning what he knew he needed to do in order to survive the blustery bridges.
In the Netherlands, Nageeye is a long-distance running legend, owning the country’s national records in the half marathon and marathon. He won the nation’s first men’s marathon medal in 40-plus years with a silver in Tokyo. Then he became the first Dutchman to win the Rotterdam Marathon, clocking a time of 2:04:56 in 2022, then later that year finished third at New York City.
In 2024, the momentum of his late-career momentum was dealt a blow by the DNF at the Olympics, but Sunday’s victory was the ultimate comeback.
Chepkirui, like Nageeye, entered Sunday with an impressive resume, but had yet to put it all together on the biggest of stages.
With a 2:17:29 personal best, Chepkirui was feared but certainly a darkhorse on the famed course featuring back-to-back Boston Marathon winner Obiri, Sharon Lokedi and Vivian Cheruiyot.
After the 2022 and 2023 New York City Marathons were won with thrilling last-minute sprints, Sunday’s race appeared to be another display of dominance for Obiri in the final five miles, using multiple surges and matching multiple others to whittle down the lead pack from six to four to three to two.
But Chepkirui proved to be the unbreakable pest in Obiri’s mission to go back-to-back.
In the last mile, the 33-year-old Chepkirui was not only still by Obiri’s side, but taking control. When it appeared Obiri was letting her Kenyan compatriot set the pace, Chepkirui took that pace and slammed her foot on the gas, sprinting away to win her first major marathon and announce her arrival to the world that she is on the elite scene to stay.
“It was really hard, I pushed myself to the limit and I’m so happy,” she said after the race.
The running world knew Chepkirui was capable of a performance like Sunday’s, but had yet to see her string it together over 26.2 miles. Her resume boasts a 64:36 half marathon and the aforementioned marathon personal best, which came in Valencia in 2022. Chepkirui flashed that dominance again last fall with a 2:17:49 finish in Berlin, a performance largely overshadowed by Tigst Assefa’s world record day, then again this spring with a sixth-place finish in London.
On Sunday, the world watched her break through.
The top-placing Americans on the day each finished sixth, as Conner Mantz finished in 2:09:00 in the men’s race and Sara Vaughn clocked 2:26:56 in the women’s race. Mantz’s close friend Clayton Young finished 21 seconds behind Mantz, a repeat of their Olympic performance when the teammates finished in eighth and ninth place 32 seconds apart.
The finish was another strong showing for Vaughn, who finished seventh at Chicago in 2022. The race also marked the final race of Jenny Simpson’s career. The 38-year-old was one of the most successful American milers in her prime, and finished 18th on Sunday in a time of 2:31:54. Simpson rose to fame with her world championship in the 1500m in 2011 and her bronze medal in the 2016 Olympics.
In the men’s wheelchair race, American Daniel Romanchuk re-earned his spot atop the NYC podium for the first time since 2019 with a time of 1:36:31, outsprinting David Weir. American Susannah Scaroni took the women’s wheelchair title, winning in 1:48:05.
(Photo: Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty Images)
