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≡ NYC MARATHON ≡
The 53rd New York City Marathon had excellent conditions, with sunshine and temperatures in the 40s to start the race, but the winners were not determined until the very end.
The women’s race had 21 in contention at the half, with defending champion and Paris bronze winner Hellen Obiri (KEN) at or near the lead. By the 30 km mark, 10 were hanging together, but the pace thinned out the race to five by 35 km, with Kenyans Sheila Chepkiruithe 2023 Berlin runner-up, ahead of Obiri and Rio 2016 Olympic 5,000 km gold medalist and 2018 NYC Marathon runner-up Vivian Cheruiyotand Senbere Teferi (ETH), fifth in Berlin last year.
Chepkirui moved into the lead over Obiri and Cheruiyot, with Teferi falling back, and by the 40 km mark, Chepkirui was leading Obiri and Cheruiyot. Into Central Park, Chepkirui was being shadowed by Obiri, with Cheruiyot right behind, and then Chepkirui and Obiri pulled away by 40 km.
Chepkirui led, with Obiri a step behind, but Chepkirui surged with less than a mile to go and put the race away with less than 400 m to go. Chepkirui cruised in for the win at 2:24:35, the no. 17 performance in NYC Marathon history.
Obiri was second in 2:24:49, followed by Cheruiyot in 2:25:21 for a Kenyan sweep of the medals. Chepkirui was in her fifth career marathon and got her first win, after finishing sixth in London in April. A Kenyan woman has won this race in 10 of the last 11 runnings.
Sara Vaughn was the first American, in 2:26:56, finishing sixth, with Jessica McClain in eighth (2:27:19), Kelly’s Taylor in 10th (2:27:59) and The Lindennow 41, 11th in 2:29:32.
In the men’s race, there were a dozen in contention at the half, but after the 25 km mark, Olympic champ Tamirat Tola (ETH) had the lead as the pack was whittled down to seven and then six by 27 km.
That six-pack continued to run at the front, with 2022 NYC Marathon winner Evans Chebet (KEN) in front at 30 km, but no one breaking away. The pack dropped to five by 32 km, and Tola was dropped by 35 km, with Chebet, Tokyo Olympic silver winner Abdi Nageye (BEL) and two-time NYC winner Geoffrey Kamworor (KEN) putting distance on the rest of the field.
Chebet and Nageeye broke away by 37 km, while Tola moved past Kamworor into third place as they moved into Central Park. Chebet and Nageeye were right together with a mile to go, with Albert Korir (KEN), the 2023 runner-up, moving past Tola into third.
Finally, Nageeye got to the lead with less than 800 m left and broke away, becoming the first Dutch winner of this race, in 2:07:39, a considerable redemption after failing to finish in Paris this summer and at the 2023 Worlds in Budapest. It’s the no. 10 performance in race history; he’s the first non-African champion in this race since American Meb Keflezighi in 2009.
Chebet was second in 2:07:45, followed by Korir (2:08:00) and Tola (2:08:12). Chebet has now finished in the top three in nine of his last 10 marathons, going back to 2019!
Americans Conner Mantz and Clayton Young were together again at the finish, in sixth and seventh, in 2:09:00 and 2:09:21. Mantz and Young were 8-9 in Paris and now moved up two spots each in New York. Mantz’s sixth place is the best by an American since 2021, when Elkanah Kibet was fourth.
American Daniel Romanchuk won the men’s Wheelchair division for the third time, in 1:36:31, and fellow American Susannah Scaroni took the women’s division in 1:48:05, winning for the second time and by more than 10 minutes!
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