2024 TCS NYC Marathon is underway! Tamirat Tola, Hellen Obiri ...
NEW YORK (WABC) -- On a crisp, beautiful Sunday morning, more than 50,000 runners from over 150 countries turned out for the TCS New York City marathon.
Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands, silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, won the men's professional race pulling away in the final mile. His time was 2:07:39.
Nageeye was step-for-step with 2022 champion Evans Chebet before using a burst heading into Central Park to come away with the win. Chebet finished 6 seconds behind.
Tamirat Tola, the men's defending champion and Paris Olympic gold medalist, finished fourth, right behind Albert Korir.
Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands wins the men's professional race at the 2024 TCS NYC Marathon.
Sheila Chepkirui won the professional women's race in a time of 2:24:35, finishing seconds ahead of defending champ Hellen Obiri.
It was Chepkirui's first time running the New York race after starting to run marathons in 2022. She finished the race in 2 hours, 24 minutes, 35 seconds. Obiri finished nearly 15 seconds behind.
Kenya's Sheila Chepkirui wins the professional women's race at the 2024 TCS NYC Marathon.
Obiri was looking to be the first repeat champion since Mary Keitany of Kenya won three in a row from 2014-16. Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya finished third, giving the African nation the top three spots.
The top Americans finished sixth in both races. Conner Mantz led the men and Sara Vaughn the women. Vaughn was in the lead group heading into Mile 20 when they entered the Bronx before she dropped off the lead pack.
Vaughn was geared up to run Chicago before COVID-19 kept her from competing in that race. She was a late addition to this marathon.
Top 5 finishers:
1. Sheila Chepkirui
2. Hellen Obiri
3. Vivian Cheruiyot
4. Eunice Chumba
5. Fabienne Schlumpf
Daniel Romanchuk of the U.S. won the men's wheelchair race, finishing ahead of David Weir and Tomoki Suzuki.
Romanchuk finished in a time of 1:36:31.
Marcel Hug of Switzerland was trying to win the race for the four consecutive year and seventh time overall.
Hug had battled a cold before the race and fell behind in the second half.
The Swiss star, nicknamed the Silver Bullet, had won 16 straight marathons, including a gold medal at this year's Paris Paralympics. He also won the Chicago Marathon a few weeks ago.
Daniel Romanchuk of the U.S. wins the men's wheelchair race at the TCS NYC Marathon.
The 38-year-old Hug was in the lead pack Sunday heading into Manhattan before falling off the pace. Romanchuk said a pothole on First Ave. caused some issues for some of the competitors.
It then became a three-man race between Romanchuk, David Weir and Tomoki Suzuki. The trio came into the last mile within a second of each other before Romanchuk, who also won this race in 2018 and 2019, pulled away to win in 1 hour, 36 minutes, 31 seconds.
"I know most of the other racers pretty well, really just try and completely empty the tank for the final mile," Romanchuk said. "It's amazing."
Weir, who was runner up in 2021 as well as winning the title in 2010, finished 5 seconds behind. Suzuki was third at 1:36.43.
Hug finished fourth, 3:38 behind the winner.
Women's Wheelchair RaceSusannah Scaroni of the U.S., who won the race in 2022, opened a huge lead in the opening miles and never looked back.
Her final time was 1:48:05, which was minutes ahead of her nearest competitor.
Scaroni beat another American, Tatyana McFadden, winning the race by more than 10 minutes in 1:48.05.
"Always so special to be here in New York City," Scaroni said. "I woke up feeling great today, never take it for granted. Coming up the last hill we had a tailwind today. So I had a little more energy then I normally do at that hill."
Scaroni set a course record when she won in 2022 and finished third a year ago.
It's the first time in the history of the race that both the men's and women's wheelchair events were won by Americans.
Susannah Scaroni of the U.S. wins the women's wheelchair race at the TCS NYC Marathon.
The NYC marathon has been held since 1970 and had more than 50,000 runners finish the race last year. The race is organized by the nonprofit New York Road Runners. Runners can get into the marathon a variety of ways, including a qualifying time, a lottery or charitable contributions.
For the first time, the organization added a "Team for Climate" that allowed runners to donate $3,000 for carbon credits to get entry into the race. While it's been warm all week in New York, with temperatures in the 70s and 80s Fahrenheit (20s Celsius), race day is supposed to see it cool down to the 50s.
Trying to improve the experience for runners after the 26.2-mile race, New York Road Runners worked with the city and arts organizations to provide deals on some museum entries and tickets to Broadway shows.
FIND YOUR FINISH: Look for your favorite runner as they cross the finish line at the TCS NYC MarathonThousands line the TCS New York City Marathon course that runs 26.2 miles through the five boroughs of the city. The race begins on Staten Island. Runners cross the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn and Queens before crossing into Manhattan.
Runners head next to the Bronx, and then back into Manhattan to the finish line in Central Park.
You can find a mile-by-mile tour of the course here.
Some information from the Associated Press
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