Sweden's Andreas Almgren won the men's race at the New York City Marathon on Sunday in his debut over 26.2 miles, while Kenya's Sheila Chepkirui took the women's title for the second time.
Almgren, who built his career in the half-marathon, broke away from Italy's Yemaneberhan Crippa in the final mile and finished in 2 hours, 6 minutes and 1 second. Crippa came home 13 seconds later, and Kamohelo Mofolo of Lesotho took third, finishing just ahead of defending champion Benson Kipruto.
The winning time was the third fastest in the course's 50-year history, and the first seven finishers all recorded marks inside the top 10 all-time for the race. Almgren is the first runner since Ethiopia's Gebre Gebremariam in 2010 to win the marathon on his debut.
Zouhair Talbi finished sixth and posted the fastest time ever run by an American in the event.
In the women's race, Chepkirui, who also won in 2024, pulled clear of compatriot Hellen Obiri in the last 150 meters to finish in 2:24:36. American Jessica McClain took second, passing the two-time winner Obiri in the closing strides and finishing six seconds behind Chepkirui. It was the first time a U.S. woman has placed in the top three since 2018.
This year's race marked the 50th time the marathon has run through all five boroughs of the city. The seventh edition in 1976 drew just over 2,000 competitors, only 88 of them women; on Sunday about 60,000 runners started, with nearly half of them women, and entrants came from more than 140 countries. Kipruto returned as defending men's champion after winning last year by three-hundredths of a second over Alexander Mutiso.
The New York City Marathon began in 1970 and for its first six years was run entirely inside Central Park, with runners completing loops. It was moved out of the park in celebration of the U.S. bicentennial and to help lift a city that was struggling at the time, eventually becoming one of New York's marquee events.
For the first time in 15 years, the course saw a minor change: runners followed a slightly different route at Mile 20 after entering the Bronx, a move designed to cut the number of turns in the borough from seven to five and ease some local street closures.
Marcel Hug won the men's wheelchair race for the eighth time, edging Daniel Romanchuk by just over a second. Romanchuk had moved into the lead in the last mile as the pair entered Central Park for the final time, but Hug passed him in the final 100 meters.
Hug's Swedish compatriot Catherine Debrunner went clear of the field early to win the women's wheelchair race in 1:40:02, the second-fastest time in race history and about 30 seconds off her own record from 2023. Two-time defending champion Susannah Scaroni finished third, more than eight minutes behind Debrunner, three months after giving birth to her first child.
Sources: NPR News.