Andreas Almgren, Sheila Chepkirui claim New York City Marathon titles

NEW YORK: The New York City Marathon featured both a debutant winner and a repeat champion.

Andreas Almgren of Sweden won the men's race on Sunday in his first marathon attempt, while Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya captured the women's title after previously winning in New York in 2024.

Almgren, 31, finished in two hours, six minutes and one second. Yemaneberhan Crippa (Italy) placed second, Kamohelo Mofolo (Lesotho) was third and Benson Kipruto (Kenya), the reigning men's champion, settled for fourth.

"I saw that I got a pretty big gap and then it's just like, 'OK Andreas, enjoy these few last hundred meters now because this is not a thing a lot of people get to experience,'" Almgren said on the ESPN broadcast.

Almgren had not competed at the 26.2-mile distance before this, but he was an accomplished athlete at other distances.

His achievements this year alone included gold medals in the 10,000 meters at the European Championships and the half marathon at the World Road Running Championships. Almgren also took home bronze in the 10,000 meters at last year's World Championships.

"You can't ask for a better debut. It's better than anything I could have imagined. This marathon thing, it's quite fun," Almgren quipped.

On the women's side, Chepkirui finished in two hours, 24 minutes and 36 seconds, exactly one second off her winning time in 2024.

She placed third in New York in 2025 despite a superior time of 2:20:24.

Chepkirui fended off countrywoman Hellen Obiri over the last mile. Jessica McClain of the US also passed Obiri right at the finish line for second.

"The last mile was really tricky," Chepkirui said.

"I had to be patient because I knew Hellen was really strong, so I had to really push up to the finish line."

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The men's wheelchair race was won by Marcel Hug of Switzerland in 1:28:14.

His compatriot, Catherine Debrunner, won the women's wheelchair title in 1:40:02, finishing only 30 seconds off of the course record she set while winning in 2023. — REUTERS