Kenya

Chepkirui and Nageeye win first ever NYC Marathon titles

Somalia-born Abdi Nageeye becomes first athlete from the Netherlands to win the TCS New York City Marathon while Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui captures her first-ever Abbott World Marathon Majors title on Sunday.

Michelle Katami

Published

3 days ago

Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui and Netherland’s Abdi Nageeye triumph at the 53rd edition of TCS New York City Marathon / Photo: Michelle Katami

Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui and Netherland’s Abdi Nageeye are the winners of the 53rd edition of TCS New York City Marathon, a World Athletics Platinum Label road race, on Sunday.

Sheila Chepkirui beat a tough field consisting of strong Kenyan and Ethiopian runners to win her first ever major marathon in a time of 2:24:35.

Chepkirui also led a historic Kenyan 1-2-3 podium finish with two winner Hellen Obiri and Vivian Cheruiyot finishing second and third respectively to complete NYC Marathon first ever clean sweep.

In the elite men’s division, Dutch athlete Abdi Nageeye put aside his Paris 2024 Olympic Games disappointment to win his first ever major in a time of 2:07:39, and become the first athlete from the Netherlands to win the New York City Marathon.

On a sunny but very chilly morning, the elite female athletes took off followed by the elite men 30 minutes later. Strong lines up in both men and women including the defending champions – Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola, who is also the Olympic champion, and Kenya’s Hellen Obiri.

From take-off, the top contenders were in the packed leading group of both races. At 10km, it was Elkana Kibet, Abel Kipchumba leading when Abdi Nageeye tested the waters. In the women’s race, Obiri led a group of 10 women which had all the leading athletes.

Distance by distance, athletics traded leading roles with Abel Kipchumba leading at 17km and Amane Gobena taking over in a lead pack that also had Geoffrey Kamworor, Albert Korir, Evans Chebet and Abdi Nageeye.

At 25km, the women’s battle involved ten athletes including Hellen Obiri, Vivian Cheruiyot, Sheila Chepkirui, Sharon Lokedi, Eunice Chumba, and Sara Vaughan. At one-point Swiss athlete Fabienne Schlumpf and American runner Dakotah Popehn took the lead. Then it was Teferi, Obiri, and Cheruiyot running side by side.

At 35km in the race, the leading women’s group was down to five athletes – Obiri, Chepkirui, Teferi, Cheruiyot and Eunice Chumba. Teferi and Chumba dropped back leaving the Kenyan trio of Obiri, Cheruiyot and Chepkirui to chase the victory.

As the race wound up, Cheruiyot dropped back. Obiri and Chepkirui went head-to-head but it was Chepkirui who had a strong finish, clocking 2:24:35, to win her first ever major marathon.

Sheila Chepkirui’s recent marathon positioning has been third in Valencia, second in Berlin and fourth and 6th places in London in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

“New York needs a lot of strength and not London. Winning today means a lot to me; it means my training has been going on. The last turn was very tough. I was still with Hellen side by side and I told myself I had to push harder,” Chepkirui said.

Hellen Obiri, who won bronze in the August at the Olympics came in second in 2:24:49.

“I am happy to second here. I like marathons with no pacemakers like New York, it prepares my mind to train alone and also fight for myself, it also shapes my mind in readiness for championship running,” Obiri told AthleticsAfrica.

“Compared to the Boston Marathon and New York City marathon last year, we had a lot of time to prepare but coming off the Paris Olympic Games, we did not have a lot of time to prepare and do a lot of things. My training was limited,” Obiri said.

Cheruiyot, who made a return to racing after three years with a podium finish of the Paris Marathon, came in third in a time of 2:25.21 to complete a Kenyan sweep of the podium – the first time by three athletes from the same country.

“I want to say that I was well prepared after doing the Paris marathon after three years. I came here knowing everyone was ready to win, I was happy to finish on the podium,” Cheruiyot said.

A first for Somali-dutch Nageeye in men’s race

In the men’s race, the leaders hit halfway in 1:05:33. At some point, Frank Lara took the lead. And then Evans Chebet stepped on the gas at 27km, a move that split the group and left Albert Korir and Geoffrey Kamworor right behind him as Tola and Gobena ran their way back in the leading pack.

Tola then put in a surge which forced the rest to respond. At 37km the leading group went down to five, and eventually to three by 40km – Evans Chebet, Abdi Nageeye and Albert Korir.

Nageeye pulled away from Chebet to register his first marathon major victory in a time of 2:07:39 in his fourth NYC marathon appearance, with his best performance coming in 2022 with a third place finish.

“In every race, I try to put in my best, I make a lot of mistakes but I try to come back. There was lots of disappointment at the Paris Olympic Games but I said to myself, what else can I do, I can cry or go back to work and try my best again.

“Paris is over and done, people have put their medals up in their living rooms, so there was only one way – go back to training, do what you do and try again in the next race, that is what I did,” Nageeye told AthleticsAfrica.

Kenya’s Evans Chebet finished second in 2:07:45 with Albert Korir coming in third in a time of 2:08:00.