NYC Marathon: Sheila Chepkirui wins women's race, Abdi Nageeye wins on men's side

The two Kenyans turned right off Central Park South at Columbus Circle, then hung a quick right into the park on West Drive — less than 800 meters to the finish line. Sheila Chepkirui had a woman to fear a couple of steps behind on her right, Hellen Obiri.

But it turned out that Chepkirui was the one to fear on this sunny Sunday.

She took off and pulled away to win the women’s title in her debut at the New York City Marathon, crossing in 2 hours, 24 minutes, 35 seconds — the 33-year-old runner’s first victory traveling 26.2 miles. Obiri, the defending champ and 2023 Boston Marathon winner, arrived 14.64 seconds later.

A short time later, a similar scene. Abdi Nageeye and Evans Chebet had spent a few miles running side by side at the front. They hung that quick right for their final push for the men’s title, and Nageeye also pulled away to become a first-time New York City winner.

The 35-year-old runner claimed his first major marathon win with a time of 2:07:39, which was 6.04 seconds ahead of Chebet, the Kenyan who won in 2022. Nageeye, the first winner from the Netherlands, had placed in the top five the previous three years.

“At the beginning, I was like, ‘Nobody will beat me today,’ ” said Nageeye, a silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics who was bent on a special day because he had to drop out at the Paris Olympics with a hip issue after colliding with another runner. “ . . . The first major, I knew it would come.”

The reward for the winners from the professional open divisions was $100,000.

“Winning today means a lot to me,” Chepkirui said. “It means my training has been well. I’m really happy for the win. The last turn was really tough. I was seeing Hellen. I told myself I had to push to the finish line.”

Kenyans swept the top three spots among the women on this running tour of the five boroughs, with 41-year-old four-time Olympic track medalist Vivian Cheruiyot placing third at 2:25:21. The three separated from all others with about five miles left.

There was a 2-3 Kenyan finish among the men. Albert Korir placed third, running 2:08:00. Defending champ Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia was fourth, 12 seconds behind.

Three American men finished in the top 10 — Conner Mantz in sixth at 2:09:00, Clayton Young in seventh at 2:09:21 and CJ Albertson in 10th at 2:10:57.

Three American women also were top-10 finishers — Sara Vaughn in sixth at 2:26:56, Jessica McClain in eighth at 2:27:19 and Kellyn Taylor in 10th at 2:27:59.

Vaughn and Mantz received $25,000 as the top U.S. runners.

Vaughn had debated whether to even show.

“I had to miss my daughter’s state meet yesterday,” the 38-year-old Colorado resident and Nebraska native said. “So when I was deciding, I thought, ’I can’t miss that. What kind of mom would I be to miss my daughter’s race?’ She looked at me and said, ‘Mom, you’ve got to go to New York.’ So here I am.”

Chepkirui began taking part in track meets in 2012 after becoming a member of the Kenya Defense Forces. She started running marathons in 2022.

She ran second in her first one, in Valencia, Spain, and again in Berlin last year. Her personal-best time of 2:17:29 came in Spain.

So she was more than seven minutes off of her best work despite unoppressive temperatures that ran from 46 at the start in Staten Island to 48 at the finish.

“New York is a bit challenging,” Chepkirui said. “It’s uphill, downhill, not like London and Berlin. New York needs some strength . . . So it’s not about time. Here, it’s about winning.”

A 67-year-old Northport native was among the 50,000-plus participants, and Richard Campbell reached a milestone. This was his 25th New York City Marathon. He ran 4:35:29.

In the wheelchair division, U.S. competitors swept the men’s and women’s titles for the first time.

Daniel Romanchuk clocked in at 1:36:31 and Susannah Scaroni won for the second time in three years, crossing in 1:48:05.