NEW YORK (AP) — Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya won the women's race of the New York City Marathon for the second time in three years on Sunday while Andreas Almgren of Sweden was victorious in his debut in the distance.

Chepkirui pulled away from defending champion Hellen Obiri in the final 150 meters to seal the victory in 2 hours, 24 minutes and 36.

“The last mile was really tricky,” said Chepkirui, who also won in 2024. “I had to be patient because I knew Hellen was really strong, so I had to really push up to the finish line.”

What Chepkirui didn’t know was that American Jessica McClain had been gaining on both of the Kenyans in the final 800 meters of the race. McClain finished 6 seconds behind Chepkirui after passing Obiri — a two-time winner who set the course record in 2025 — in the final few strides. It was the first time a U.S. woman finished in the top three since 2018.

"It was a really fun, magical day out there. New York, you never know what to expect and I honestly didn’t feel like amazing through (Mile) 18, and just kind of had to stick in it and adjust as I went,” McClain said. “Top five was top of mind, then podium. I was just like, stick with it. And then all of a sudden Hellen was coming back to me, so I don’t really know what happened, but I couldn’t be happier right now.”

Almgren was making his debut at 26.2 miles after a successful career running half-marathons. He pulled away from Yemaneberhan Crippa of Italy in the final mile to take the victory in 2:6.1.

“This is my first marathon. I didn’t know how I was supposed to feel,” said Almgren.

Crippa finished 13 seconds behind Almgren. Kamohelo Mofolo of Lesotho was third, edging out defending champion Benson Kipruto.

Almgren's time was the third fastest in the course's 50-year history, and six runners went under 2:07 to finish in the top 10 all-time times.

“I just tried to stay up at front and see what happened and see how the race developed,” Almgren said. “I didn’t think it was going to be that quick of a finish, but I didn’t really know anything about that. One of the reasons I choose to race New York is that you don’t care about the time but just get as good a position as possible.”

He became the first marathoner to win his debut in the event since Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia won the 2010 race. American Zouhair Talbi finished sixth on Sunday and ran the fastest time ever by a U.S. runner in the event.

It was the 50th time that the race has run through all five boroughs of the city. There were just over 2,000 competitors in 1976, the seventh running of the race, including only 88 women. About 60,000 runners stepped up to the starting line Sunday, with nearly half of them women.

There were runners from more than 140 countries competing, including defending men's champion Kipruto. He won in thrilling fashion last year, edging Alexander Mutiso by three-hundredths of a second.

The New York City Marathon began in 1970, and the first six years it was run entirely inside Central Park, with runners doing loops. The race was moved out of Central Park in celebration of the U.S. bicentennial and to help uplift the city, which was struggling. It ended up turning into one of the marquee events in New York.

Course tweak

For the first time in 15 years, there was a minor change in the course. The runners took a slightly different route at Mile 20 when the race entered the Bronx. The move was made to reduce the number of turns in the borough from seven to five and ease some of the street closures in the area.

Eight-time winner

Marcel Hug won the men’s wheelchair race for the eighth time, edging Daniel Romanchuk by just over a second. Romanchuk made a move to take over the lead in the last mile as the pair entered Central Park for the final time. Hug passed him in the final 100 meters to win.

Hug’s Swiss countrymate Catherine Debrunner pulled away from the field early to win the women’s wheelchair race, finishing in 1:40:02. It was the second-fastest time in race history, trailing her own mark by about 30 seconds from 2023. Two-time defending champion Susannah Scaroni finished third, three months after giving birth to her first child, more than eight minutes behind Debrunner.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Hug and Debrunner are Swiss, not Swedish.

___

See AP’s full sports coverage here