Almgren Wins New York Marathon on Debut as Chepkirui Reclaims Women's Crown

Sweden's Andreas Almgren won the men's title at the New York City Marathon on his debut, while Kenya's Sheila Chepkirui won her second women's title. Both runners left their rivals behind in final-stage battles in Sunday's race.

This was Almgren's first ever race over the 26.2-mile distance, after a successful career in half marathons and the 10,000 metres. He pulled away from Italy's Yemaneberhan Crippa in the final mile to cross the finish line in two hours, six minutes and one second.

Crippa finished second, 13 seconds behind Almgren. Lesotho's Kamohelo Mofolo was third, edging out defending champion Benson Kipruto. Almgren pulled away from Kipruto with one mile left and had built such a comfortable lead by the final metres that he jogged across the line, waving his arms to draw more cheers from the crowd.

After his win, Almgren said: 'I've probably never felt so emotional after a race ever. With 5k left I felt like I had the legs today. I saw I had a pretty big gap near the end and thought: OK, just enjoy these last few hundred metres, because this is not something a lot of people get to experience.'

In the women's race, Chepkirui won the title again after 2024. She pulled away from her compatriot Hellen Obiri in the final 150 metres to finish in 2 hours, 24 minutes and 36 seconds.

Chepkirui said: '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. I am so happy.'

American Jessica McClain finished second in the women's race, passing two-time winner Obiri in the final few strides and ending just six seconds behind Chepkirui. It was the first time a US woman has finished in the top three of this marathon since 2018.

McClain said: 'It was a really fun, magical day out there. 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.'

About 60,000 runners stepped up to the starting line on Sunday, with nearly half of them women.