Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya won the women’s race of the New York City Marathon on Sunday for the second time, while Sweden’s Andreas Almgren claimed 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 Yemaneberhan Crippa of Italy in the final mile to take the victory in two hours, six minutes and one second. Crippa finished 13 seconds behind. Kamohelo Mofolo of Lesotho was third, edging out defending champion Benson Kipruto.
“I’ve probably never felt so emotional after a race ever,” said Almgren. “With 5k left I felt like I had the legs today … I saw I had a pretty big gap [near the end of the race] and thought: ‘OK, just enjoy these last few hundred meters’, because this is not something a lot of people get to experience.”
Almgren looked to be a veteran over the distance as he hung in with a crowded lead pack through the demanding and hilly course. He pulled away from the defending champion Kipruto with one mile left and had built such a comfortable lead by the final meters that he jogged across the line, waving his arms as he coaxed more cheers from the crowd.
Chepkirui, who also won the race in 2024, pulled away from her compatriot Hellen Obiri in the final 150m to seal the victory in 2:24.36.
“The last mile was really tricky, I knew I had to be patient because Hellen was really strong so I had to really push up to the finish line,” said Chepkirui. “I am so happy.”
American Jessica McClain finished second in the women’s race, passing Obiri – a two-time winner – in the final few strides. It was the first time a US woman has finished in the top three since 2018. McClain was six seconds behind Chepkirui.
“It was a really fun, magical day out there,” said McClain. “I really didn’t feel great through 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 has run through all five boroughs of the city. There were just over 2,000 competitors in the seventh running of the race, including just 88 women. About 60,000 runners stepped up to the starting line Sunday, with nearly half of them women.
