OBIRI, KIPRUTO TAKE TCS NYC MARATHON TITLES IN CLOSE FINISHESBy David Monti, @d9monti(c) 2025 Race Outcomes Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission.
NEW YORK (02-Nov) — On a near-perfect day for working with brilliant skies and funky temperatures, Hellen Obiri and Benson Kipruto gained the 54th version of the TCS New York Metropolis Marathon in shut finishes. Obiri, 35, gained the race for the second time and beat her long-time Kenyan rival Sharon Lokedi, the 2022 champion right here, with an explosive surge within the twenty sixth mile. Obiri smashed Margaret Okayo’s 2003 course report of two:22:31, clocking 2:19:51 on the power of a blistering 1:08:50 (uphill) second half. Kipruto, 34, edged his Kenyan compatriot Alexander Mutiso by simply 3/100ths of a second, the closest end within the historical past of the race. Each winners gained $100,000 in prize cash and Obiri collected an additional $50,000 for setting a brand new course report.
WOMEN START OUT FAST
The primary mile of this notoriously hilly marathon is totally uphill on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, and is usually the slowest mile of the race.
Not right now.
American Susanna Sullivan, not too long ago fourth on the World Athletics Championships marathon in Tokyo in September, went proper to the entrance and break up the primary mile in 5:30. That didn’t deter the race’s prime rivals, and after a 5:22 downhill mile on the opposite facet of the bridge a lead pack of 16 fashioned and the tempo settled down. Within the group was the reigning champion, Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya, and he or she was the primary athlete to attempt to break up the race. She ran the fifth mile in a crisp 5:19 and the sixth in 5:22. That also left a dozen ladies in rivalry, together with the quickest American within the area, Fiona O’Keeffe, the 2024 Olympic Trials champion.
“It’s positively thrilling,” stated O’Keeffe when requested what it was wish to run on the entrance of an Abbott World Marathon Majors race. She added: “It was actually thrilling to be up there with these ladies.”
By means of 10 km (33:53) and 15 km (50:52) the pack whittled right down to 9: Obiri, Lokedi, Chepkirui, O’Keeffe, Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN), Sara Vaughn (USA), Annie Frisbie (USA), Sifan Hassan (NED), and Emily Sisson (USA). American debutante Amanda Vestri was only a few seconds again.
Between 20 km and the midway level the race lastly broke up. Because the leaders crossed the midway mark in 1:11:01, solely Chepkirui, Lokedi, Obiri and O’Keeffe remained on the entrance. Hassan –who had missed her bottle on the 20-Ok drink station and had to return to select it up– was now 4 seconds again. Sisson, the USA report holder who was making her New York Metropolis Marathon debut, additionally fell again (she would end eight in 2:25:05).
When the leaders began to ascend the Queensboro Bridge, which spans the East River between Queens and Manhattan, O’Keeffe began to battle. On the 25-Ok level close to the height of the bridge (1:23:59) O’Keeffe was 4 seconds again, and Hassan was 18 seconds behind. It seemed like each ladies have been out of the combat for the rostrum.
However after descending the bridge ramp on the Manhattan facet, O’Keeffe and Hassan have been lifted up by the massive crowds that lined First Avenue. Remarkably, each ladies caught up, and by 30-Ok (1:40:11) the 5 ladies have been again collectively. They have been on tempo for a 2:21 end, and it turned apparent that Okayo’s course report –the oldest within the World Marathon Majors– would lastly be damaged.
Quickly, O’Keeffe and Hassan could be dropped for good. Nonetheless, O’Keeffe would have a terrific day, ending fourth in 2:22:49, the fastest-ever time by an American girl right here. Hassan continued to sluggish and completed sixth in 2:24:43.
“I felt fairly sturdy for some time,” stated O’Keeffe. She continued: “I can’t actually take an excessive amount of credit score for the time; that was the ladies up forward of me.”
After the lengthy uphill within the twenty fourth mile on Fifth Avenue, Chepkirui, Lokedi and Obiri have been nonetheless collectively. They become Central Park, ran previous the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork, and on the subsequent downhill –referred to as “Cat Hill” by the locals– Obiri and Lokedi bought away from Chepkirui. Turning proper onto Central Park South, Obiri and Lokedi have been side-by-side. They ran collectively for only a few hundred meters earlier than Obiri hit the gasoline and scooted away. She seemed again twice, however Lokedi wasn’t responding.
“My coach informed me to be affected person and make your transfer with two miles (to go),” Obiri stated, referring to Dathan Ritzenhein on the On Athletics Membership in Boulder, Colo. She continued: “With about 1 Ok to go I felt so sturdy, I had one thing left in my tank.”
Obiri ran to the tape alone, however each Lokedi (2:20:07) and Chepkirui (2:20:24) had additionally smashed the course report.
“With Hellen you by no means know,” stated Lokedi, marveling at her rival’s remaining transfer.
One other American, Annie Frisbie, handed Hassan and completed fifth in 2:24:12, a two-minute private finest. Britain’s Jessica Warner-Judd completed seventh (behind Hassan) in her marathon debut in 2:24:45.
“I assumed 2:24 would possibly get on the rostrum, however not right now,” Warner-Judd informed Race Outcomes Weekly simply after stepping off the course.
MEN START CAUTIOUSLY
Not like the ladies, the boys weren’t in a lot of a rush right now. Greater than 20 males have been collectively at 10-Ok (30:22) and 15-Ok (46:01). Even by midway (1:05:18), there have been nonetheless 20 males in rivalry.
The climb up the Queensboro Bridge to the 25-Ok mark (1:17:53) stretched the sector out a bit, but it surely wasn’t till the northbound stretch on First Avenue in Manhattan that the race lastly bought going. After a 4:40 break up for the seventeenth mile, the sector was right down to eight: Kipruto, Mutiso, Tsegay Weldlibanos (ERI), Albert Korir (KEN), Hillary Bor (USA), Biya Simbassa (USA), Patrick Dever (GBR), and Abel Kipchumba (KEN). The eight stayed collectively by 30-Ok (1:32:21), and 35-Ok (1:47:37) however a surge by Korir within the subsequent five-kilometer section dropped Simbassa, Kipchumba, and Weldlibanos. By the point the leaders reached Central Park within the twenty fourth mile, solely Kipruto, Mutiso, Korir and Dever remained in rivalry.
Moments after coming into the park, Kipruto put within the race’s most vital surge. Korir and Dever have been dropped, however Mutiso stayed together with his adidas teammate. Kipruto ran the twenty fifth mile in 4:30, the quickest of the race. That arrange an unimaginable battle for the win after the 2 leaders re-entered Central Park with about 600 meters to go. Kipruto was main, and it appeared as if he had a sufficiently big hole to say a transparent victory. However Mutiso mounted an shocking remaining dash, working on Kipruto’s left.
“I used to be conscious that Mutiso was there and so shut,” Kipruto informed reporters after the race. “I do know Mutiso is robust man. I knew it was going to be a good race.”
Kipruto raised his arms simply earlier than hitting the tape in 2:08:09, and so did Mutiso, however there was no dispute as to who had gained. The the 2 males instantly congratulated one another
“I’m very joyful to be within the podium in New York and to be motivated by Benson,” stated Mutiso.
Along with his win right here right now, Kipruto has now gained 4 Abbott World Marathon Majors: Boston in 2021, Chicago in 2022, Tokyo in 2024, and now New York. He was additionally the bronze medalist within the 2024 Paris Olympic marathon.
Korir, who completed third in 2:08:57, has made the rostrum in New York 5 instances (he was additionally second in 2019, first in 2021, second in 2023, and third in 2024). Dever, a Briton who trains in the US, took fourth in his debut in 2:08:58. Matthias Kyburz of Switzerland, who’s coached by former European marathon champion Viktor Röthlin and was solely in 14th place at midway, completed fifth in 2:09:55.
The highest American right now, Joel Reichow of Minnesota Distance Elite, was a shock. Reichow moved up from the nineteenth place on the midway mark, to eleventh at 30-Ok, to fifth at 40-Ok. Though he was handed by Kyburz, he nonetheless completed sixth in a private finest 2:09:56. He gained a complete of $35,000 in prize cash, greater than 3 times what he earned when he gained Grandma’s Marathon final June.
“It positively feels good,” stated Reichow, who’s coached by Chris Lundstrom “I simply needed to show I can compete with the highest People and I proved that right now.”
Former marathon world report holder Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya lastly competed within the TCS New York Metropolis Marathon right now, and was by no means an element within the race. After ending ninth within the Sydney Marathon in 2:08:31, the two-time Olympic gold medalist completed seventeenth right here right now in 2:14:36, the slowest marathon of his profession. He obtained his Abbott World Marathon Majors Six Star medal within the post-race press convention the place he stated he could be working seven marathons on seven continents within the subsequent two years. It wasn’t clear whether or not he would try to run at an elite stage once more.
“It was actually great working by the streets of New York with all the crowds cheering,” Kipchoge informed reporters. He added: “It was actually a fantastic factor for me.”
Within the skilled wheelchair races Marcel Hug of Switzerland and Susannah Scaroni of the US completely dominated, simply as they did in Chicago final month. Hug bought away from his chief rival, David Weir of Nice Britain, within the second five-kilometer section the place he already had a 20 second lead. That lead would enhance to just about 4 minutes by the end. It was Hug’s seventh win in New York.
“It’s overwhelming to win right here in New York,” stated Hug, who earned $50,000 in prize cash. “It’s so significant to me to be again on the rostrum.”
Scaroni had a 25-second lead by the 5-Ok level, and gained by almost six minutes in 1:42:10. It was her third victory right here, and her second in a row.
“It feels unimaginable,” stated Scaroni, who pushed to her quickest time within the New York course. She added: “I attempted to maintain my tempo environment friendly and powerful to the end.”
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New York Street Runners, the race founders and organizers, count on about 55,000 runners to cross the end line right now. Final yr’s race had 55,643 finishers and was the biggest marathon in historical past.
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