New York’s 50th five-borough marathon: Obiri and Kipruto defend, Hassan returns and Almgren steps up

The New York City Marathon on Sunday 1 November marks 50 years since the race first left Staten Island and ran through all five boroughs, in 1976. The professional field, announced by New York Road Runners in August, includes three defending champions, 40 Olympians and Paralympians and 22 national record holders.

It is also one of the biggest. Last year’s race had 59,219 finishers, which NYRR says made it, at the time, the largest marathon ever held.

The women’s race

Kenya’s Hellen Obiri returns as champion after breaking a course record that had stood since 2003, running 2:19:51 for her second New York title. Since then she has won the New York City Half and run a personal best of 2:15:53 for second at the London Marathon.

The fastest woman in the field is the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan, the three-time Olympic champion, with a best of 2:13:44. She finished sixth on her New York debut last year. Sheila Chepkirui, the 2024 champion, and Uruguay’s Julia Paternain, bronze medallist at last year’s world championships, are also entered.

The American women are led by Weini Kelati, the US half marathon record holder, who makes her marathon debut, along with Jess McClain, who ran the fastest Boston Marathon ever by an American woman in April, and Fiona O’Keeffe, the 2024 Olympic Trials champion.

The men’s race

Benson Kipruto won on his New York debut last year by three hundredths of a second over Alexander Mutiso, the closest men’s finish the race has had. He has now won four of the World Marathon Majors: Boston, Chicago, Tokyo and New York.

He faces two former New York champions, Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor, who won in 2017 and 2019, and the Netherlands’ Abdi Nageeye, the 2024 winner. Ethiopia’s Deresa Geleta has the second-fastest best in the field, 2:02:38, behind Kipruto’s 2:02:16.

The most interesting debut belongs to Sweden’s Andreas Almgren, the European record holder over 5,000 m and the half marathon and the European 10,000 m champion. Since the field was announced he has also become world half marathon champion, winning in Copenhagen on 20 September in a European record of 58:06. Britain’s Patrick Dever, third on his debut here last year, returns.

The leading Americans are Conner Mantz, who set the US record of 2:04:43 in Chicago a year ago and has since dealt with injuries including a sacral stress fracture, and Zouhair Talbi, who ran 2:03:45 in Boston in April. That is the fastest marathon by an American, but Boston’s point-to-point, net-downhill course is not eligible for records.

The wheelchair races

Switzerland’s Marcel Hug, a seven-time winner, defends the men’s wheelchair title against Daniel Romanchuk and David Weir. The women’s race includes Catherine Debrunner, who holds the course record, and Tatyana McFadden, a five-time champion.