Kenyan Sheila Chepkirui won the women’s race at the New York Marathon for the second time for the second time on Sunday, while Swede Andreas Almgren took the men’s title in his first ever race over the distance.
Almgren was making his debut at 26.2 miles after a successful career running half marathons and the 10,000m. He pulled away from Italian Yemaneberhan Crippa in the final kilometer to take victory in two hours, six minutes and one second. Crippa finished 13 seconds behind. Kamohelo Mofolo of Lesotho finished third, ahead of defending champion Benson Kipruto.
“I’ve probably never felt so emotional after a race,” Almgren said. “With 5km to go, I felt like I had the legs today…I saw that I had a pretty big gap (towards the end of the race) and I said to myself, ‘OK, just enjoy those last few hundred meters,’ because it’s not something that a lot of people get to experience.”
Almgren appeared to be a veteran at the distance as he hung on with a crowded lead pack throughout the demanding and hilly course. He pulled away from defending champion Kipruto with a mile to go and had “built such a comfortable lead in the final meters that he ran across the line, waving his arms as he elicited more cheers from the crowd.
Chepkirui, who also won the race in 2024, pulled away from compatriot Hellen Obiri in the final 150 meters to seal victory in 2:24.36.
“The last kilometer was really tricky, I knew I had to be patient because Hellen was really strong so I had to really push to the finish line,” Chepkirui said. “I’m so happy.”
American Jessica McClain finished second among the women, passing Obiri – a two-time winner – in the final strides. It was the first time an American woman finished in the top three since 2018. McClain was six seconds behind Chepkirui.
“It was a really fun and magical day,” McClain said. “I really didn’t feel good for 18 miles. I just had to stick with it. I don’t really know what happened but I couldn’t be happier right now.”
It was the 50th time that the race crossed the city’s five boroughs. There were just over 2,000 competitors in the seventh edition of the race, including only 88 women. Around 60,000 runners gathered at the start line on Sunday, almost half of whom were women.
Gn sports
