With a duration of two hours, seven minutes, and 39 seconds, Netherland’s Abdi Nageeye won the New York City Marathon after a fierce battle over the last mile.
Evans Chebet, the 2022 champion, was on the verge of winning until Nageeye gave his all in the last 400 meters. The Kenyan then finished in second place with a time of 2:07:45, while his fellow Kenyan Albert Korir finished in third place with a time of 2:08:00.
With his win, Nageeye admitted: “I was just thinking I’m dreaming.” At the Paris Olympics, Nageeye unfortunately did not finish his race after colliding with another runner.
In a social media post, the athlete expressed: “NEW YORK 🥇🗽🇺🇸… What happened yesterday?!! 🤯🤯 So crazy to win biggest race in the world 🙌🏾 I felt so good sprinting away in Central Park towards the finish. Once again we never give up, this one will last forever 🙌🏾🙏🏾👏🏾”
Chebet appeared to be in complete control as he raced down the Queensboro Bridge to pick up speed around the 16-mile mark in an attempt to break up the closely packed lead group.
However, Nageeye soon caught up to him, and by the last mile, the two athletes raced shoulder-to-shoulder as the crowd of fans cheered eagerly. Nageeye ran the final straight by himself as Chebet lost speed as they made the last turn.
In similar news, Sheila Chepkirui led a Kenyan sweep in the women’s podium with a performance record of 2:24:35. The athlete ran a faultless race, staying with the lead pack from the beginning and defeating reigning champion Hellen Obiri.
Obiri, also from Kenya, placed second after finishing 14 seconds later while another Kenyan, Vivian Cheruiyot, finished next with a time of 2:25:21. This was the first time since 1976 when three women from the same country had swept the podium in five boroughs.
For any athlete who has yet to make his or her mark in history, reaching the finish line knowing they’ve won the race can be a new and thrilling sensation. However, this was not the case for Eliud Kipchoge, who achieved the milestone of winning the Berlin Marathon for the fifth time in his career on September 24.
Two days before the event, Kipchoge gave an interview to Olympics.com in which he expressed his apprehension regarding the marathon.
“I am nervous,” Kipchoge confessed. “But the nervousness shows I am ready for the big task on Sunday….”
True to his words, Kipchoge did come ready for the marathon that spanned 42.195 kilometers.
He immediately showed his speed in the first 5 kilometres of the race, leading the rest of the pack. And, according to Runner’s World, this continued until he hit the 10k, the half-mark, and then the 30k mark, where he managed to shake off the rest of his rivals and cement his status as the race leader. As his speed and stamina led him to the finish line, he clocked an astonishing time of 2:02:42, clinching first place for the fifth time.
Kipchoge surpassed Gebrselassie’s records
Kenneth Kipkemoi of Kenya came in second with a time of 2.03:13, and Tadese Takel of Ethiopia came in third with a time of 2.03:24.
Up until 2022, Haile Gebrselassie held the record for the most wins, with four consecutive titles, according to Olympics.com. He also set two world records for the fastest time in the marathon way back in 2007 and 2008. He registered a time of 2:04:26 in ’07 and went on to improve on this the next year with 2:03:59.
However, Kipchoge surpassed Gebrselassie’s records and became the only person to have conquered the marathon five times. In addition, Kipchoge also shattered the world record, first in 2018 when he ran 2:01:39 in the race, and then in 2022 when he ran 30 seconds faster than his previous record of 2:01:09.
In addition to these achievements, Kipchoge also won at the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, clinching gold medals at the prestigious event.
His victory at the Berlin Marathon was announced on World Athletics’ X account:
“History-maker 👑
🇰🇪’s @EliudKipchoge becomes the first man in history to win the @berlinmarathon for the 5th time 🙌
Ethiopian athlete Yomif Kejelcha set a new world record at the Valencia Half-Marathon.
Kejelcha, who also owns the world record for the indoor mile established in Boston last year, finished his race in a record 57 minutes and 30 seconds. The time clocked by the 27-year-old Ethiopian athlete was a second quicker than the record set by Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda in Lisbon three years ago.
In a social media post, Kejelcha said: “Thank you so much to Valencia for putting on a great race and helping me to break the world record and I’m so happy because the Valencia people helped me so much today for this record.”
He added: “I also want to thank my Coach and organizers for putting on a brilliant race today… Thank you also to my family for giving me great support over the years.🙏🙏… Adidas running my management all thank you 🙏 I really appreciate it.”
Kejelcha, who was just running his sixth half-marathon, trailed the pacemakers in the beginning. He made his move at the three-kilometre mark and eventually got ahead of Kenyans Daniel Mateiko and Isaia Kipkoech to secure his win.
Despite being a two-time global indoor 3000m champion, Kejelcha only managed to place sixth in the 10,000-metre final at the Paris Olympics earlier this year.
In similar news, Agnes Ngetich of Kenya dominated the women’s race and moved to be the second in the world all-time rankings with a time of 63:04.
In his distance race debut, Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe won the Valencia Marathon, finishing in the fifth-fastest time ever.
Following his achievement, Sawe said: “I am so excited and happy to win here. It is a great moment for me.” He also won the half marathon title at the inaugural World Road Running Championships in Riga last year.
In a social media post, Sawe wtote: “I can’t find the right words to say but I am extremely happy on a super debut over the marathon distance with a time of 2:02.05 to take the win @maratonvalencia…. To my club @2runningclub & management @demadonnathletics, thank you & nice teamwork! 🙏”
The athlete added: “My heart goes out once again to the people of Valencia 🫶🫶”
Sawe, 28, won the race in two hours, two minutes, and five seconds. Only Kelvin Kiptum, Eliud Kipchoge, Kenenisa Bekele, and Sisay Lemma have run faster in the past.
Athletes’ performance records
Deresa Geleta of Ethiopia finished second in 2:02:38 and Kenyan Daniel Mateiko finished third in 2:04:24 in the Valencia Marathon.
Megertu Alemu of Ethiopia won the women’s race with a performance record of 2:16:49. Stella Chesang of Uganda placed second with a time of 2:18:26 and Tiruye Mesfin of Ethiopia was third in 2:18:35.
The race started with a moment of respect for the victims of floods that killed over 220 people in the Valencia region a month ago. The 35,000 runners were encouraged to donate to a flood recovery fund, and the organizers promised to provide 3 euros (£2.50) for each finisher.
Joshua Cheptegi, the reigning world champion and world record holder for the 10,000 metres, is now the Olympic champion, too, winning the race in Paris in record time.
The 27-year Ugandan ran the 10,000 metres in 26:43.14 minutes in a new Olympic record, knocking 18 seconds off the previous record set by the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele at the 2008 Beijing Games
The race at the Stade de France in Paris on Friday (August 2) was the fastest 10,000-metre run in Olympic history.
The field was unprecedentedly quick — the first 13 finishers all broke the previous Olympic record of 27:01.17 seconds as advances in shoe and track technology continued to accelerate race times.
Cheptegei, who won the 10,000-metre silver and 5,000-metre gold inTokyo, finished first with a devastating burst of speed in the last 600 metres.
“I can’t describe the feeling. I’ve wanted this for a long time. When I took silver in Tokyo 2020, I was disappointed. I just wanted to win the 10,000 metres,” Cheptegei said after the race.
🥇 5,000 metres, Tokyo 2020
🥈 10,000 metres, Tokyo 2020
🥇 10,000 metres, Paris 2024
Joshua Cheptegei has now won more Olympic medals than any other Ugandan athlete in history 🇺🇬 pic.twitter.com/6v5WGewKsm
Cheptegei, world champion in 2019, 2022 and 2023, was surprisingly beaten to the gold by the Ethiopian Selemon Barega in Tokyo and was desperate for revenge.
Now, with the Olympic gold under his belt, the world champion and world record holder is going out a winner.
This his last race on the track, he said; he will be going next for something longer: the marathon.
Cheptegei, world champion in 2019, 2022 and 2023, was surprisingly beaten to the gold by Ethiopian Selemon Barega in Tokyo and was desperate for revenge.
Barega, the Tokyo gold medal winner, didn’t reach the podium in Paris, finishing seventh in the race with a time of 26:44.48.
Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi took the silver medal, just 0.3 seconds behind Cheptegei, after he and his Ethiopian teammates held the lead for much of the race.
“We had a team strategy to push the pace and we showed great teamwork. I am very sad we did not achieve the gold medal as a team,” Aregawi said.
But he was thrilled he took the silver after finishing fourth in Tokyo. “I was running for my country and I want to dedicate this silver medal to my country,” he said.
Grant Fisher of the United States took the bronze medal, 0.02 seconds behind Aregawi.
“It means so much. You’ve got to be tough to win a medal. I made it today and it feels incredible,” Grant said after the race.
“The biggest stadium I’ve ever been in was Tokyo and that one was dead silent,” he added, referring to the Games in 2021, when pandemic restrictions did not allow for typical crowds.
“This was so, so different. From the first lap, the crowd was screaming. I couldn’t hear anything the entire race. The 10,000m doesn’t get a lot of love sometimes, but that crowd made it feel like we were the best show in town. It was super fun. It was a fast, fast pace. I felt like I was in a good position the whole way and just gave it everything with a lap to go.”
A pack of 13 athletes ran the last two-thirds of the race together, and remarkably, all of them finished in under 27 minutes.
Cheptegei stayed behind the leaders for much of the race but accelerated, coming around the final bend on the penultimate lap, and did not let up.
“My collection for this run is really complete. I’m so excited,” he told reporters.
“Barely 16 years ago when I was watching the great Kenenisa Bekele win in Beijing, it was something that grew in my heart.
“I said, ‘one day I want to be Olympic champion’. It is the most special day. I can’t describe the feeling. I’ve wanted this for a long time. When I took silver in Tokyo I was so disappointed. I just wanted to win the 10,000 metres.”
Tamirat Tola smashes course record in NYC Marathon
A marathon, which spans 42.2 kilometers (26.2 miles), is a fairly difficult race to finish for every runner, let alone win. It is arguably the toughest running sport there is, as it challenges the runner’s mental and physical capacity, pushing their body beyond its limits and, in the process, strengthening their will.
And, according to Run Repeat’s research, the average marathon time around the globe is 4:29:53. To break it down by gender, it takes an average of 4:21:03 for men to complete a marathon and 4:48:45 for women.
However, last Sunday at the New York City Marathon, Tamirat Tola from Ethiopia finished the race in under half the average time, recording 2 hours, 4 minutes, and 58 seconds.
Tola, winner of the 2023 NYC marathon
Tola had been running marathons for a decade, with several titles to his name. But he recorded his best one yet last Sunday at the NYC marathon, which was described by USA Today as a race that had “26.2-mile five-borough trek through the city.”
The event drew around 50,000 runners, which was a tough barrier to break through if one happens to be located in the middle or even more so in the last portions of the crowd.
Nevertheless, the great number proved to be no match for Tola’s speed and stamina. It was around the half-the-marathon mark where the competition really began, as it was during this point that the leaders of the race began to separate themselves from the pack.
And leading that pack were Tola and his fellow compatriot, Jemal Yimer.
Proving that Tola had all the experience and training in the world, Tola accelerated towards the finish line, leaving the other runners in his wake and eventually breaking the tape at 2:04:58.
Yimer, on the other hand, lagged behind and finished ninth.
The runner-up, Albert Korir from Kenya, finished two minutes after Tola had broken the tape, recording 2:06:57. Two years prior, Koir was crowned the NYC Marathon winner.
And coming in third was Tola and Yimer’s fellow countryman, Shura Kitata.
Tola smashes Mutai’s NYC record
Coming into the marathon, Tola had no ambitions of smashing records and only had his eyes set on winning.
But as it stands, after the marathon, Tola ended up achieving both. With a time of 2:04:58, he is now the new record holder of the NYC marathon, replacing the 2011 record set by Geoffrey Mutai, 2:05:06.
NYC Marathon Men’s Results, as reported by the Bleacher Report:
1. Tamirat Tola (2:04:58)
2. Albert Korir (2:06:57)
3. Shura Kitata (2:07:11)
4. Abdi Nageeye (2:10:21)
5. Koen Naert (2:10:25)
