Andreas Almgren wins the New York City Marathon on his debut as Kipruto finishes fourth
The Swedish world half marathon champion pulled away in the final two kilometres to win in 2:06:01, the third-fastest time in the race’s history. Italy’s Yeman Crippa was second and Lesotho’s Kamohelo Mofolo third.
Andreas Almgren of Sweden won the New York City Marathon on 1 November at his first attempt at the distance, breaking clear in the last two kilometres to finish in 2 hours 6 minutes 1 second.
Italy’s Yeman Crippa was second in 2:06:14 and Kamohelo Mofolo of Lesotho third in 2:06:26. Benson Kipruto, the defending champion and the fastest man in the field, finished a second further back in fourth.
Almgren’s time is the third-fastest in the 50-year history of the five-borough course, the Associated Press reported, and he is the first man to win New York on his marathon debut since Ethiopia’s Gebre Gebremariam in 2010. Tamirat Tola’s course record of 2:04:58, set in 2023, was never under threat.
A slow race, then a fast finish
The lead group stayed together for most of the race. Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor, a two-time New York champion, was at the front at 30 km, and the American record holder Conner Mantz led at 35 km, according to FloTrack’s race tracking.
By 40 km Almgren had moved to the front, passing the checkpoint in 2:00:00 with Kipruto and Crippa less than two seconds behind, FloTrack reported. He pulled away over the final 2.2 km, and Yahoo Sports reported that he covered the last mile in about 4 minutes 30 seconds.
Behind him, the fight for the podium was close. Mofolo edged Kipruto by one second for third, and the top four were separated by 26 seconds.
Why the debut mattered
Almgren came to New York as a track and half marathon runner. He holds the European records for 5,000 m and the half marathon and is the European 10,000 m champion. On 20 September he became world half marathon champion in Copenhagen, running a European record of 58:06.
Before the race, the question was whether that speed would carry over 42.2 km on a hilly course with no pacemakers. New York is often tactical, and this year’s race played to a runner with a fast finish. Almgren was in contention at 40 km and was quickest from there.
According to USA Today, the win was worth $100,000 in prize money.
Crippa, a former track specialist like Almgren, was well placed throughout. Kipruto, who won here in 2025 by three hundredths of a second and has also won Boston, Chicago and Tokyo, was in the lead group at 40 km but could not match the finish.
The Americans
Zouhair Talbi was the leading American in sixth place in 2:06:43. Both the AP and USA Today described it as the fastest time ever run by an American man in the New York race. Ahmed Muhumed was seventh in 2:07:08 and Ryan Ford tenth in 2:07:17.
Mantz, who led at 35 km, did not finish in the top 10. His finishing time was not available in the reports we read at the time of writing.
Kamworor finished eighth in 2:07:09, level on time with Japan’s Ryota Kondo in ninth.
The 50th five-borough race
The race marked 50 years since the New York City Marathon first ran through all five boroughs in 1976. About 60,000 runners started, nearly half of them women, from more than 140 countries, according to the AP. The 1976 race had just over 2,000 competitors, 88 of them women.
The course also changed for the first time in 15 years, with a new route around mile 20 in the Bronx that cuts the number of turns there from seven to five.
