Almgren wins NYC Marathon in 2:06:01 as 60,000 runners take part

Approximately 60,000 participants started the New York City Marathon on Sunday, marking the 50th edition of the event that traverses all five boroughs. The field included runners from more than 140 countries, with nearly half of the starters being women. The race has grown substantially since 1976, when just over 2,000 competitors, including 88 women, took part in the seventh running of the event.

Andreas Almgren of Sweden claimed the men's title in his debut at the distance. He finished in 2 hours, 6 minutes and 1 second, a time that ranks as the third fastest in the race's 50-year history. Almgren, who previously focused on half-marathons, pulled away from Yemaneberhan Crippa of Italy in the final mile. Crippa finished 13 seconds behind Almgren, while Kamohelo Mofolo of Lesotho took third place. The top seven finishers all recorded times that place them in the top 10 all-time for the course.

Almgren became the first athlete to win his first New York City Marathon since Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia in 2010. American Zouhair Talbi finished sixth and posted the fastest time ever recorded by a U.S. runner in the men's event. Defending champion Benson Kipruto finished fourth, losing to Mofolo for the podium spot. Kipruto had won the previous year's race by a margin of three-hundredths of a second over Alexander Mutiso.

Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya won the women's race for the second time, having also taken the title in 2024. She finished in 2:24:36 after overtaking Hellen Obiri in the final 150 meters. American Jessica McClain finished second, passing Obiri in the final strides. McClain finished six seconds behind Chepkirui. Her result marked the first time a U.S. woman placed in the top three since 2018. Obiri, a two-time winner, finished third.

Marcel Hug won the men's wheelchair race for the eighth time. He defeated Daniel Romanchuk by just over a second. Romanchuk took the lead in the final mile as the pair entered Central Park, but Hug passed him in the last 100 meters to secure the victory. In the women's wheelchair race, Sweden's Catherine Debrunner won in 1:40:02. Her time was the second fastest in the event's history, trailing her own record from 2023 by about 30 seconds. Susannah Scaroni finished third, more than eight minutes behind Debrunner, three months after giving birth to her first child.

The course saw a minor adjustment for the first time in 15 years. At Mile 20 in the Bronx, runners followed a slightly different route. Organizers changed the path to reduce the number of turns in the borough from seven to five and to ease street closures. The New York City Marathon began in 1970 and was run entirely in Central Park for its first six years. It moved to a citywide route in 1976 to coincide with the U.S. bicentennial and to support the struggling city.