The 16th annual United Airlines NYC Half Marathon was an exciting race on both the men’s and women’s sides, with the elite field racing to earn the $20,000 prize for the win.
The race was held on March 19, 2023, and kicked off at 7:00 AM, taking the nearly 25,000 participants from Brooklyn, NY to Central Park in Manhattan.
Race day conditions were notably cold and windy, with temperatures below freezing, which was reflected in slow times.
Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo, the half-marathon world-record holder, won the men’s race, beating out fellow Ugandan runner and Olympic champion Joshua Cheptegei.
Kiplimo finished in 1:01:31, an impressive time for the weather conditions, while Cheptegei trailed behind by 38 seconds to finish in second place in a time of 1:02:09.
Third place was taken by Moroccan runner Zouhair Talbi, who ran 1:02:18.
The top American in the men’s field was Ben True. True, who won the NYC Half Marathon in 2018 finished fourth in 1:02:57.
On the women’s side, Kenyan runner Hellen Obiri won the race in an event record time of 1:07:21. Even though this is a record finish time for the NYC Half Marathon by 14 seconds, it’s quite a bit slower than Obri’s half marathon PR (1:04:22).
The same can be said for Kiplimo, whose PR is 57:31.
Obri and Ethiopian runner Senbere Teferi led from the gun, followed closely by a small chase pack of Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal, Diane van Es, and Jess Warner-Judd from Norway, the Netherlands, and Great Britain, respectively.
Obri showed her strength the whole race, leading the charge. After running the first mile in 5:19, she sped up to an impressive 5-minute mile pace for the second mile.
Ultimately, despite the fact that she blocked the wind for essentially the entire race, Obri averaged an impressive 5:08 per mile.
She broke away right around the 15k mark (9 miles) and led decisively for the rest of the race; with Teferi taking second in 1:07:55, 34 seconds behind.
The American women were a bit further back in terms of finish times. The incredible Des Linden was the top American woman, finishing in 1:12:21, which was good for fifth place. Dakota
Lindwurm, who led the chase pack of the top three Americans for most of the race, ended up in sixth with a time of 1:12:25, with Molly Huddle just two seconds behind in seventh place.
Warner-Judd faded a bit from her early fast start to finish in 12th in a time of 1:13:28.
Complete results of the 2023 NYC Half Marathon can be found here.
You can also watch a race recap of the pro field at the NYC Half Marathon here.
