Tamirat Tola has broken the course record to win the New York City Marathon men’s race while Hellen Obiri pulled away in the final 400 metres to annex the women’s title.
Ethiopian Tola finished Sunday’s race in 2 hours 4 minutes 58 seconds, topping the 2:05.06 set by Geoffrey Mutai in 2011.
He pulled away from countrymate Jemal Yimer when the pair were heading towards the Bronx in the 20th mile and by the time he headed back into Manhattan a mile later he was up by 19 seconds.
But while the men’s race was well decided before the last few miles, the women’s race came down to the stretch.
Kenya’s Obiri, Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey and Kenya’s defending champion Sharon Lokedi were all running together exchanging the lead.
Obiri made a move as the trio headed back into Central Park for the final half-mile and finished in 2:27.23, with Gidey 6 seconds behind and Lokedi 10 seconds down.
About an hour earlier, Marcel Hug won the men’s wheelchair race, finishing a few seconds short of his own course record by finishing in 1:25.29. It was the Swiss star’s record-extending sixth NYC Marathon victory.
In a Swiss double, Catherine Debrunner won the women’s wheelchair race on her New York debut, shattering the course record in 1:39.32, beating the previous mark by held by American Susannah Scaroni by over three minutes.
Australian Paralympic champion Madison de Rozario, the 2021 winner, was seventh in 1:53.47.