Andreas Almgren won the 2026 TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday at his first try at the distance, breaking away from a lead group that had held together for 35K and finishing in Central Park in 2:06:01. The Swede crossed the line 13 seconds ahead of Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa, and Kamohelo Mofolo of Lesotho was third in 2:06:26 on the day he turned 21.
Almgren’s time was the fastest winning mark in New York since Tamirat Tola set the course record of 2:04:58 in 2023, and it came within just four seconds of the Swedish record, the 2:05:57 that Suldan Hassan ran in Tokyo in March 2025, according to TT.
Six weeks earlier, Almgren had won the world half-marathon title in Copenhagen in a European record of 58:06, and he came to New York with no marathon behind him at all. He had picked this race for his debut over a flat, paced course precisely because the professional field here runs without pacemakers, as it has since 2007.
A Lead Group That Would Not Break
The men left Staten Island cautiously and went through 5K in 15:30, a pace that projected to a finish well outside 2:10. They picked it up gradually from there, reaching halfway in 1:04:01, but nobody tried to get away. The lead changed hands over and over instead: Zouhair Talbi was in front at 10K, halfway and 25K, Conner Mantz at 15K and 35K, and Geoffrey Kamworor, the 2017 and 2019 champion, at 30K. The 5Ks from 20K to 25K and from 25K to 30K were both run in under 14:50, the fastest stretch of the race to that point, and still the group stayed intact. When the pace eased to around 15:08 for the next 5K, the first 10 men reached 35K, in 1:45:33, separated by less than a second.
Almgren went through that mark in fifth, only 0.58 seconds behind Mantz, and he covered the remaining 7.2K (about 4.5 miles), through Harlem, up Fifth Avenue and into the park, in 20:27. Crippa, who won the Paris Marathon in April in a personal best of 2:05:18, according to NBC Sports, was the closest to him and needed 20:40 for the same stretch, finishing in 2:06:14. Almgren ran his second half in under 62 minutes, more than two minutes quicker than his first.
Benson Kipruto Finishes Half a Second Off the Podium
Mofolo’s third place took more than two minutes off the personal best of 2:08:50 he set in Cape Town in May, according to World Athletics, and he held it by only 0.55 seconds. The man behind him was Benson Kipruto, the defending champion, who had not been among the first 10 at any of the checkpoints from 25K to 35K and came through for fourth in 2:06:27. That was almost two minutes faster than the 2:08:09 he needed to win here last year. Haftu Strintzos of Australia was fifth in 2:06:34.
Talbi, who led at more checkpoints than anyone, was the first American home, sixth in 2:06:43. Ahmed Muhumed, also running his first marathon, finished seventh in 2:07:08, a second ahead of Kamworor, with Japan’s Ryota Kondo ninth and Ryan Ford 10th in 2:07:17, the third American in the top 10. Mantz, the American record holder, led the race at 35K and finished outside the top 10. The full men’s field and the rest of the day’s racing are on our live blog.
2026 TCS New York City Marathon – Top Men’s Results
1. Andreas Almgren (SWE) 2:06:01
2. Yemaneberhan Crippa (ITA) 2:06:14
3. Kamohelo Mofolo (LES) 2:06:26
4. Benson Kipruto (KEN) 2:06:27
5. Haftu Strintzos (AUS) 2:06:34
6. Zouhair Talbi (USA) 2:06:43
7. Ahmed Muhumed (USA) 2:07:08
8. Geoffrey Kamworor (KEN) 2:07:09
9. Ryota Kondo (JPN) 2:07:09
10. Ryan Ford (USA) 2:07:17
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