It was a record-breaking and thrilling day at the New York City Marathon on Sunday as Hellen Obiri and Benson Kuprito took the respective titles on a day of dominance for Kenya.
Obiri outkicked her great rival Sharon Lokedi in the closing stages and obliterated the previous course best as Sheila Chepkirui rounded out an all-Kenya podium which featured the last three winners.
And then the men’s race boiled down to a sprint finish as Kipruto and Alexander Mutiso broke the tape together in 2:08:09, with the verdict going to the former which puts him in select company as a winner of four different Abbott World Marathon Majors, of which this was the final one of 2025.
Again it was another Kenya one-two-three as Albert Korir took third.
The event was also notable as it is almost certainly the last major road marathon for the GOAT Eliud Kipchoge, who crossed the line in 17th in 2:14:36.
And there were two standout British performances – Patrick Dever was fourth in the men’s on debut while Jessica Warner-Judd was seventh in the women’s event.
Women’s race – Last three winners battle it out
We had a big front pack for the first 15km, with 13 women together at that point but it was soon after that defending champion Chepkirui started to push it on the front.
From that moment on it was gradually whittled down, meaning that after 30km we were down to five – Kenyan trio Chepkirui, Lokedi and Obiri along with Fiona O’Keeffe (USA) and Sifan Hassan (NED).
Hassan was the first to just drop a few metres back, followed by O’Keeffe, and for the next 8km or so it was an all-Kenyan battle up front with virtually nothing between them.
But in the last 3km or couple of miles, Chepkirui just dropped six seconds back as Lokedi and Obiri settled down to yet another head-to-head battle in a Marathon Major.
What proved the decisive kick came from Obiri with nearly a kilometre to go and Lokedi couldn’t respond.
Obiri looked incredibly strong in the closing stages as she not only shattered the previous course best of 2:22:31 from fellow Kenyan Margaret Okayo back in 2003 but also became the first woman to go sub-2:20.
She stopped the clock in 2:19:51, 16 seconds ahead of Lokedi with a similar gap back to Chepkirui in third.
Men’s race – Down to the wire
Many eyes were on Kipchoge, surely the greatest men’s marathon runner of all time, in what was heavily hinted to be the 40-year-old’s final major race.
Running in an eyecatching Nike Radical AirFlow top he was part of a big front group for the opening part of the race, with a relatively steady 1:05 split for the first half of the marathon.
But the pace would then start to pick up and Kipchoge was one of the first to be shelled out of the back.
So much so that by the 30km point, we were down to eight, with a chase pack of six 23 seconds adrift and Kipchoge a further six seconds back and running alone in 15th.
But heading into the final 3km was when Kuprito and Mutiso broke clear and settled down to fight it out for the win.
Kuprito looked to have it in his safekeeping but a flying finish from Mutiso saw them cross the line neck-and-neck.
They were credited with the same time – and all smiles afterwards – but the verdict went to Kuprito on what was his New York debut and he can add the win to his titles at Boston, Chicago and Tokyo.
Korir was 48 seconds behind in third, with Dever fourth in 2:08:58 on what was an incredible marathon debut which puts him right up there with the top Brits.
New York City Marathon 2025 results
Sunday 2 November, 26.2 miles / 42.2 kilometres
WOMEN:
- 1. Hellen Obiri (KEN) – 02:19:51
- 2. Sharon Lokedi (KEN) – 02:20:07
- 3. Sheila Chepkirui (KEN) – 02:20:24
MEN:
- 1. Benson Kuprito (KEN) – 02:08:09
- 2. Alexander Mutiso (KEN) – 02:08:09
- 3. Albert Korir (KEN) – 02:08:57
