A rapid stream of Olympians will flow through the five boroughs of The Big Apple on Sunday 3 November – the date of the 2024 New York City Marathon.
Headlining the decorated field will be defending champions Hellen Obiri and Tamirat Tola, both of whom hit the podium for the Olympic marathon at this year’s Games in Paris. Obiri bagged a bronze, while Tola got the gold.
Tola out to repeat his Paris heroics
Tola, from Ethiopia, displayed true class at last year’s New York City Marathon, where he pulled away from the lead pack with six miles to go to secure victory in 2:04:58 – a result that reset the men’s course record for the first time in 12 years. He then went on to claim another win – and record – at this year’s Olympics. Here, in the heart of Paris, and on a hilly course that has widely been regarded as one of the toughest (if not the toughest) ever used in the modern Olympics, Tola defied the odds to break the tape in a new Olympic record of 2:06:26. Amazingly, he was only called up to the Ethiopian squad two weeks before the race, to replace injured countryman Sisay Lemma.
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Tola, 33, also has an Olympic bronze medal to his name, having finished third in the 10,000m in Rio, as well as a marathon gold from the 2022 World Championships.
‘I’m excited to defend my title in New York, especially coming off an Olympic-record marathon performance,’ said Tola. ‘The hilly course and crowds in Paris definitely prepared me well for the bridges and spectators in New York, where maybe I can go even faster this year.’
Joining Tola – who has displayed particular aptitude over undulating courses in recent years – will be Belgium’s Bashir Abdi, who placed second in the Olympic marathon in Paris and third in the equivalent event at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Previous New York City Marathon champions Evans Chebet (2022), Albert Korir (2021) and Geoffrey Kamworor (2017, 2019) will also toe the line this year, alongside British elites Callum Hawkins (who boasts a marathon PB of 2:08:14), Jonny Mellor (2:09:09) and Luke Cadwell (2:11:33).
Obiri on course for another double
Obiri will also return to New York City as the reigning champion, having kicked hard to claim the win in a time of 2:27:23 in 2023. In fact, last year, the 34-year-old Kenyan became the first woman in 34 years – her lifetime – to win both the Boston Marathon and the New York City Marathon in the same calendar year. She even won the Boston Marathon again this year, making her the first woman since 2005 to score consecutive wins at this historic race in Massachusetts. Can she do the clean sweep and place first in New York City for the second straight year as well?
This could well be the case, as Obiri also won bronze at the Olympic marathon this summer, and, among other accomplishments, is a two-time World Championships gold medallist in the 5000m.
‘There’s no place like New York, and I am so ready to defend my title on what has become one of my favourite days of the year,’ said Obiri. ‘I have been racing very well on the roads in the US and I hope I can have another good day that sees me in contention once we enter the final stages in Central Park.’
However, fighting Obiri for the crown will be fellow Kenyan Sharon Lokedi, who won the 2022 New York City Marathon on her 26.2-mile debut, and, this year, placed second in Boston and third in the Olympic marathon. Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba – a three-time Olympic gold medallist in the 5000m and 10,000m – will also be making her long-awaited marathon debut in New York this autumn, while Lily Partridge, who has a marathon PB of 2:25:12, will represent Great Britain.
A famously flamboyant race with extraordinary crowds and plenty of inclines, the New York City Marathon is the last of the six Abbott World Marathon Majors races to be staged in the calendar year. Starting on Staten Island and finishing in Manhattan’s iconic Central Park – and passing through Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx along the way – the race does a grand tour of this larger-than-life city and is, as such, on many runners’ wish lists.
