NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 7 – Just six weeks after clinching her Olympic title, Peres Jepchirchir completed her 2021 competitive year in style, winning the New York Marathon title in her debut with a 2hrs, 22mins, 39seconds time as she led a Kenyan 1-2 finish.
On her Marathon debut, Viola Lagat was second in 2hrs, 22mins, 44secs.
Meanwhile, Albert Korir, second in the 2019 race went one better, winning the men’s race in a time of 2hrs, 08mins, 22secs.
Jepchirchir had stuck with the leading group until it broke to just between her, Viola, younger sister to Kenyan turned American Bernard Lagat and Ethiopian Ababel Yeshaneh.
However, in the final one kilometre, the Olympic champion made her move surging forward.
Viola tried to keep up with the pace but couldn’t but did just but enough to wade off from Yeshaneh who completely failed to kick in the final uphill kilometre.
The 32-year old Kenyan finished second while Yeshaneh, the former world half marathon record-holder, her time of 2:22:52 gained her another major marathon podium place, two years after her runner-up finish at the Chicago Marathon.
A strong team of 12 had formed the leading pack early on, going through 10km in 35:02 while three dropped out with the remaining nine reaching the halfway point in 1:12:43.
By 27km the pace had picked up and the race was between Jepchirchir, Cheptoo, Yeshaneh and the USA’s Olympic bronze medallist Molly Seidel.
As they reached the Bronx, Jepchirchir and Yeshaneh began to break away, but Cheptoo – making her marathon debut – wasn’t willing to be left behind.
Kenya’s Albert Korir crosses the finish line on Sunday to win the men’s title at the New York Marathon
Meanwhile, in the men’s race, Korir, second placed finisher from 2019 had run mostly a solo race for a huge chunk of the final half.
After the lead group had gone through 10km in 30:43, Moroccan Mohamed El Aaraby and Italian Eyob Faniel started to create a gap on the rest of the field.
By 15km they were 23 seconds ahead and their advantage only continued to grow, with the chase group at half way also including Ethiopian distance running great Kenenisa Bekele, Olympic silver medallist Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands, Kenya’s world half marathon record-holder Kibiwott Kandie and the USA’s Elkanah Kibet.
But then Korir, Kandie and Kibet started to launch their attack, with Korir and Kandie – making his marathon debut – catching the leaders. They all passed 30km in 1:30:50 before Korir began to move away.
Leaving his rivals behind, the gap increased to 27 seconds over the next 10km and Korir celebrated as he reached the finish line in 2:08:22 for a dominant victory.
Running solo now, El Aaraby – who had placed 11th at the Olympics – held on for second place, clocking 2:09:06, while Faniel, 20th in Sapporo, finished third in 2:09:52.
Kibet clocked a PB of 2:11:15 for fourth, as Kandie faded to finish ninth. Nageeye was fifth in 2:11:39 and Bekele, back racing just six weeks after his third place finish in Berlin, was sixth in 2:12:52.
-Additional reporting courtesy World Athletics
