Jessica McClain Becomes the First American Woman on the NYC Marathon Podium Since 2018

Jessica McClain finished second at the New York City Marathon on Sunday in 2:24:42, six seconds behind Sheila Chepkirui, after catching Hellen Obiri on the short rise in the last 200 meters. As we reported from the race, it made her the first American woman in the top three in New York since Shalane Flanagan was third in 2018. It was also the best finish of McClain’s career, and it came in only her fourth major marathon.

She was near the front all morning, and at halfway, reached in 1:13:52, she was the one leading a line of four Americans. By 35K she was one of six women still together. When Chepkirui ran the next 5K in 16:24, the fastest of the race, only Obiri went with her, and McClain slipped only about three seconds behind the pair. Over the final 2.2K she ran 6:59 to Obiri’s 7:04. She beat the defending champion, a woman with a personal best of 2:15:53, by just four-tenths of a second.

Eighth, Seventh, Fifth, Second

McClain’s first major, as we noted in our profile of her before the race, was New York in 2024, where she finished eighth in 2:27:19 and was the second American. She was seventh at the Boston Marathon five months later in 2:22:43, the first race after David Roche took over her coaching, and in April this year she was fifth at Boston in 2:20:49, which took 1:13 off the American course record Flanagan had set there in 2014. She also finished eighth at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, where her stated goal had been a top-five place.

Sunday’s time was 2:37 quicker than she ran on the same course two years ago, on a day when the women’s race went out slowly enough that the leaders were on pace for 2:35 at 5K. Her personal best from Boston is still almost four minutes faster, though Boston is not a record-eligible course.

From the Mesa Marathon to Central Park

None of this looked likely four years ago. McClain, who raced as Jessica Tonn before she married, was a seven-time All-American at Stanford and signed with Brooks in 2015, joining the Brooks Beasts in Seattle. Injuries kept interrupting her there, and by 2019 she had gone home to Phoenix. From early 2020 she went about two years without a race. Her comeback, in February 2022, was the Mesa Marathon, her first race at the distance, and she won it in 2:33:34.

A sacral stress fracture later that year changed the way she trained. “I resolved then that I was never going to let myself get to a starting line not healthy again,” she told Marathon Handbook in 2024. At the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials that February she ran 2:25:46 and finished fourth, just 15 seconds from a place on the Paris team, and she was fourth again in the 10,000m at the track Trials that summer. She still works a job outside running.

What Comes Next

Before the race, McClain had made it plain that top American was not the target. “First American honors is always amazing, but I’m thinking bigger than that,” she said in August when the field was announced.

She was one of four Americans in the top eight on Sunday, with Carrie Ellwood sixth in 2:26:28, Weini Kelati seventh in 2:26:51 in her marathon debut and Paige Wood eighth in 2:27:29. The fastest American woman ever in New York is still Fiona O’Keeffe, who ran 2:22:49 last year and withdrew from this year’s race in October. The next U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials are in St. Louis on March 25, 2028, with three places on the team for Los Angeles.