The New York City Marathon Becomes the First Marathon With More Than 60,000 Finishers

61,146 runners finished the New York City Marathon on Sunday, the first time any marathon has passed 60,000 finishers. New York Road Runners released the preliminary count on Monday, along with 61,529 starters, so only 383 of the people who set off from Staten Island did not make it to the line.

London had held the record since April, when 59,830 runners finished its race and Guinness World Records recognized it as the largest marathon ever run. The two cities have now traded the title four times in two years. New York counted 55,646 finishers in 2024, London passed that in April 2025 with 56,640, and New York went back ahead last November with 59,226. Sunday’s total cleared London’s spring mark by 1,316, which is why NYRR can say its race has set the record three years running, even though the title has spent each of the last two summers in London.

Of the 1,920 extra finishers this year, 1,786 were women. NYRR counted 28,942 women at the finish, up from 27,156 in 2025, while the men’s total barely moved, rising by just 120 to 32,047. Women now make up a little over 47 percent of the finishing field, against 46 percent a year ago. The nonbinary division, which NYRR introduced in 2021, grew from 143 finishers to 157, and all three categories set new highs.

Fewer of Sunday’s finishers came from abroad. NYRR counted 15,745 international finishers, down from 18,660 last year, although they came from more places: 153 countries this time, compared with 132 in 2025. Italy sent the largest contingent outside the U.S., with France next. Taking both years’ day-after counts at face value, that leaves roughly 4,800 more American finishers than in 2025, more than enough to account for the whole increase. The oldest finishers were Danil Farkash, 90, and Sharon Kerson, 84.

At the front, Andreas Almgren won the men’s race in 2:06:01 in his marathon debut and Sheila Chepkirui took the women’s title in 2:24:36, six seconds ahead of Jess McClain. The race also marked 50 years since the marathon first ran through all five boroughs, and its charity runners had already passed $100 million in fundraising before race day, another record for NYRR.

London Goes to Two Days in 2027

London Marathon Events plans to stage next year’s race over two days, Saturday, April 24, and Sunday, April 25, 2027, with places for 100,000 runners. According to the announcement carried by the World Marathon Majors, men and women will race on separate days, and organizers have described the format as a one-off for 2027.

A record 1,338,544 people applied in London’s 2027 ballot, more than a million of them from the U.K., so filling the extra places should not be a problem. Hugh Brasher, the chief executive of London Marathon Events, called the expansion “a once-in-a-generation one-time-only reimagining of what a marathon and city-wide celebration of activity can be.”