New York Highway Runners has confirmed the elite athlete discipline for the 2026 TCS New York Metropolis Marathon and there may be a lot for British and Irish followers to observe when the race returns to the streets of the Large Apple on November 1.
Patrick Dever heads the British curiosity within the males’s race, returning to New York after having produced one of many tales of final 12 months’s race. The US-based Preston Harrier crossed the road fourth on his 26.2-mile debut, solely to be promoted to 3rd – and on to the rostrum of a World Marathon Main – a number of weeks later after the runner who completed forward of him, Albert Korir, failed a medication take a look at.
Chatting with AW, Dever defined why he selected New York over a house European Championships marathon in Birmingham this summer season.
„Being new to the marathon distance I undoubtedly realised after the 2 that I’ve executed it takes my physique some time to get better,“ he mentioned. „I did take into account doing the European marathon as it could have been enjoyable because it was a house championship in England. However the turnaround after London was a bit tight and with New York in November it gave me an extended runway to take a break, give my physique time to heal and guarantee I might be in my finest form in New York.“
There’s additionally a tactical dimension to the choice. With the Los Angeles Olympics now firmly in his sights, Dever needs to sharpen his expertise at racing with out the crutch of pacemakers.
„It is necessary for me to be in a race like New York with out pacemakers, whereas in London I had pacemakers. I wish to practise championships-style racing in New York on condition that Los Angeles Olympics is my massive focus within the subsequent couple of years.“
That podium end was adopted by a powerful step up in April, when Dever returned to London and ran a private finest of two:06:18, underlining the fast progress he has made since switching as much as the marathon distance. It’s that fast turnaround between London and New York that has formed his 2026 marketing campaign, with the additional restoration time earlier than November permitting him to reach within the US in peak situation fairly than dashing to slot in a house European Championships race in between.
On the unusual circumstances of his retrospective podium end, Dever was reflective fairly than bitter. „After the race coming in fourth was higher than I anticipated so I used to be elated. I could not have gone significantly better on my debut however then to seek out out a number of weeks later that the runner forward of me examined optimistic was a wierd expertise, however I am grateful to New York Highway Runners for the best way they dealt with it and it is fairly particular to be a podium placer in a giant metropolis marathon on my debut. It is top-of-the-line moments of my profession even when I wasn’t in a position to expertise it on the day itself.“
Dever will likely be joined in New York by fellow Brits Jack Rowe plus Phily Bowden.
Almgren’s marathon debut follows European gold
The boys’s discipline has been given an additional jolt of intrigue this week with the information that Andreas Almgren will make his marathon debut in New York – simply days after the Swede claimed European 10,000m gold in Birmingham in a championship report time of 27:23.44. Already the Swedish and European record-holder over 5000m and the half marathon, Almgren steps as much as 26.2 miles for the primary time carrying critical pedigree and recent momentum from a summer season that has confirmed him as one of many excellent distance skills in Europe.
He joins a males’s discipline constructed round defending champion Benson Kipruto of Kenya, who received final November’s race by three hundredths of a second – the closest end in occasion historical past – and has since added a third-place end at Boston in April, going underneath the earlier course report. Kipruto’s Kenyan compatriots Geoffrey Kamworor and CyBrian Kotut, plus Ethiopia’s Deresa Geleta, headline a quick worldwide discipline that additionally contains Italian record-holder Iliass Aouani and Eire’s Peter Lynch, the Irish marathon record-holder.
Sturdy American contingent additionally within the combine
The host nation’s discipline is among the deepest within the race’s historical past. Conner Mantz, the American report holder over each the half marathon and marathon, returns to New York for the primary time since 2024 off the again of a fourth-place end in a nationwide report finally 12 months’s Chicago Marathon. He units up a mouth-watering home duel with Zouhair Talbi, who ran 2:03:45 for a brand new American course report at Boston in April – the quickest marathon ever run by an American on any course – and edged Mantz by two seconds over Talbi’s house turf on the Falmouth Highway Race this summer season.
On the ladies’s facet, half marathon report holder Weini Kelati makes her marathon debut after ending first or second in 4 of her six earlier NYRR races, whereas Jess McClain, who broke the American course report in Boston in April, and Fiona O’Keeffe, final 12 months’s high American finisher, add additional power in depth.
Defending champions Obiri and Hug return to headline
Hellen Obiri will bid for a 3rd TCS New York Metropolis Marathon title having damaged a 22-year-old course report final 12 months to win in 2:19:51. The Kenyan has since received the NYC Half, run a private finest of two:15:53 for second at London, and completed third at June’s New York Mini 10K.
„New York all the time brings out one of the best in me, and I am excited to return and really feel the power of every borough throughout such a historic 12 months,“ Obiri mentioned.
She faces a formidable girls’s discipline that includes three-time Olympic champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands – who holds the quickest private finest within the discipline at 2:13:44 – together with 2024 champion Sheila Chepkirui and Ethiopia’s Gotytom Gebreslase.
Within the wheelchair race, Switzerland’s Marcel Hug returns to defend his title and prolong his personal course report, having already received in Tokyo, Boston and London this 12 months. Britain has sturdy illustration behind him, with David Weir, the 2010 champion, and Johnboy Smith and Simon Lawson additionally within the males’s wheelchair discipline, whereas Eden Rainbow-Cooper, the reigning NYC Half and Boston Marathon champion, strains up within the girls’s wheelchair race.
A landmark anniversary
This 12 months’s race marks 50 years because the marathon first ran by all 5 boroughs in 1976, a transfer that formed the fashionable metropolis marathon and drew knowledgeable discipline for the primary time. NYRR is marking the anniversary by welcoming 1976 males’s champion Invoice Rodgers again for race-week festivities, alongside Danielle Mika Nagel, daughter of 1976 girls’s champion Miki Gorman.
The 2026 TCS New York Metropolis Marathon takes place on Sunday, November 1.
