The New York City Marathon is always an exciting race, and the 2023 New York City Marathon looks to be following this same trend.
Earlier this week, New York Road Runners (NYRR) announced some of the top professional women who will be competing in the 2023 New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 5.
Although more names will be announced as we get closer to the marathon date, the 2023 NYC Marathon pro women’s list already includes some of the world’s fastest women and reigning champions of the Abbott World Major Marathons.
For example, NYRR announced that the 2023 New York City Marathon will be headlined by the following professional women marathoners:
- Sharon Lokedi: The 2022 New York City Marathon women’s winner who won the race in her marathon debut in a time of 2:23:23.
- Hellen Obiri: The 2022 Boston Marathon women’s champion and 2023 United Airlines New York City Half Marathon champion.
- Peres Jepchirchir: An Olympic gold medalist and the women’s 2021 New York City Marathon winner.
- Brigid Kosgei: The current women’s marathon world record holder.
All four of these professional women marathoners are Kenyan runners who have stellar running resumes to date, particularly in the past couple of years.
This surely makes for what will be a very exciting race.
Defending champion @shazrinee, Boston Marathon winner @hellen_obiri, Olympic gold medallist Peres Jepchirchir and marathon world record-holder Brigid Kosgei will clash in a competitive TCS @nycmarathon
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 10, 2023
on 5 November 🙌
The New York City Marathon has been taking place every year since 1970, with the exception of 2012 and 2020, and consistently draws some of the fastest runners in the world.
Despite this long history, the stacked field lined up for the upcoming 2023 New York City Marathon represents the first time that a reigning New York City Marathon, Boston Marathon, Olympic champion, and marathon world record holder will all compete in the race.
It will be particularly interesting to see reigning New York City Marathon champion, Sharon Lokedi, try to defend her title in the 2023 New York City Marathon.
Although she had a strong finish, pulling away from the field in the last 2 miles last year, Lokedi has been sidelined for most of the year since then due to an injury, which ended up forcing her to withdraw from the 2023 Boston Marathon.
Since the 2022 New York City marathon was her debut at the 26.2-mile distance, and she has not yet run another marathon since that break-out performance, her potential success in this year’s race is a bit more of a wildcard compared to some of the other professional women marathon runners that she will be racing.
In a press release about the 2023 NYC Marathon, Lokedi said:
“Last year, I came into the TCS New York City Marathon with the goal of being in the thick of the race, and the result was better than I could have ever hoped for. This year, I’m returning with a different mindset, hungry to defend my title and race against the fastest women in the world.”
Hopefully, the pressure of defending her title will not compromise her ability to stay calm and focused and execute a smart and successful marathon race strategy.
The 2022 New York City Marathon was also Kenyan runner Hellen Obiri’s marathon debut.
She ended up finishing in sixth place, with a respectable race, but had a stellar performance at the 2023 Boston Marathon where she clinched the victory.
Although she is also still relatively “green“ when it comes to the marathon distance, Obiri is far from a novice in her elite running career.
She is the current Kenyan 3000 meter record holder, a two-time Olympic medalist, and a seven-time world championships medalist.
Kenyan marathoner, Peres Jepchirchir, took the victory at the 2021 New York City Marathon, but had to pull from the race in 2022 due to an injury.
In 2021, Jepchirchir ran 2:22:39 to win the New York City Marathon, missing the course record by just eight seconds and running the third-fastest New York City Marathon time for women in history.
Although she is only 29 years old, Jepchirchir has already won the New York City Marathon, Boston Marathon, and the Olympic Marathon.
Adding to her pile of gold medals, Jepchirchir is also a two-time half marathon world championship gold medalist.
Brigid Kosgei is the current world record holder in the marathon for women, with a time of 2:14:04.
Kosgei set the women’s marathon world record at the 2019 Chicago Marathon, where she finally beat the long-standing, 16-year-old marathon world record for women set by Paula Radcliffe by an impressive 81 seconds.
She is also only 29 years old, and the 2023 New York City Marathon will be Kosgei’s first attempt at this particular course.
However, she is far from being a novice at the marathon distance.
Brigid Kosgei has five World Marathon Majors victories to her name and an Olympic silver medal in the women’s marathon.
It’s hard to imagine a more impressive lineup for the professional field in any singular marathon race, which has us extremely excited to see who else will be joining the women’s pro field at the 2023 New York City Marathon and, of course, to watch the race unfold on November 5th.
You can stay up-to-date on the 2023 New York City Marathon pro runners and all of the exciting race happenings at the website here.
If you feel inspired to train for your own fall marathon, check out our guide to some of the best fall marathons in the US here.
