New York City Marathon 2026: Almgren Wins on His Debut and Chepkirui Reclaims the Women's Title as Both Defending Champions Fall
Sweden's Andreas Almgren won his first-ever marathon in 2:06:01, and Kenya's Sheila Chepkirui sprinted to her second New York title in 2:24:36 - while defending champions Benson Kipruto and Hellen Obiri finished fourth and third.
NEW YORK - The open races at the New York City Marathon ended the way the wheelchair races began: in sprints. Sweden's Andreas Almgren, running the first marathon of his career, tore away over the final kilometre in Central Park to win in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 1 second, holding off Italy's Yemaneberhan Crippa, who finished 13 seconds back in 2:06:14.
Behind them, the defending champion missed the podium entirely. Lesotho's Kamohelo Mofolo surged past Kenya's Benson Kipruto to take third in 2:06:26 - a personal best by nearly two minutes - and Kipruto, who won last year's race by 0.16 seconds in the closest men's finish in the event's history, was fourth in 2:06:27. Almgren is the first Swedish winner in New York and the first man to win the race on his debut since Ethiopia's Gebregziabher Gebremariam in 2010, and he took home $100,000. The American men's drought also continued: no American has won the men's race since Meb Keflezighi in 2009.
The women's race was tighter still at the front. Kenya's Sheila Chepkirui reclaimed the title she won in 2024, breaking the tape in 2:24:36 after she and defending champion Hellen Obiri broke away with three miles to go. American Jessica McClain of Scottsdale, Arizona, tracked down Obiri in the last 30 meters to finish second in 2:24:42 - the first American woman on the New York podium since 2018 - and Obiri, last year's course-record winner, was third, one second later, in 2:24:43. Kenya's Edna Kiplagat was fourth in 2:25:42, and the top nine women were all from Kenya or the United States, the eighth straight Kenyan women's win in New York outside the canceled 2020 race.
The results complete a morning this station opened with the wheelchair finals - Marcel Hug's eighth men's title in 1:28:14, won by 1.13 seconds, the closest finish in race history - on the 50th anniversary of the five-borough course. Seventeen men finished under 2:10 and 14 women under 2:30 on a day when more than 60,000 runners from 140 countries were expected on the course from Staten Island to Central Park.
