Sheila Chepkirui Wins the 2026 New York City Marathon

Sheila Chepkirui won the New York City Marathon for the second time in three years on Sunday, pulling away from Hellen Obiri over the last 2.2K to finish in 2:24:36, only a second slower than her winning time in 2024. The race for second was closer still. Jessica McClain, who had been 3.4 seconds behind Obiri at 40K, caught the defending champion on the short rise in the final 200 meters and finished in 2:24:42, the first American woman on the podium here since Shalane Flanagan was third in 2018.

Obiri held on for third in 2:24:43, just four-tenths of a second behind McClain. She had come to New York with the fastest personal best in the field and a chance at a third title, which would have put her level with Paula Radcliffe, and a year after she broke the course record with 2:19:51 she was beaten on the same roads by two women she had run alongside for more than 40K.

A Slow Start and a Fast Finish

The professional women left Staten Island at 8:35 a.m. and took the opening miles cautiously. Carrie Ellwood of the United States led through 5K in 18:23, about 5:55 per mile, with the first 10 women separated by just over two seconds. The pace began to lift soon after, and the second 5K, run by Viola Cheptoo of Kenya in 17:20, was more than a minute quicker than the first. Cheptoo led at 10K in 35:45, though Obiri, Chepkirui, Weini Kelati, Edna Kiplagat and Mercy Chelangat were all within half a second of her.

Nobody tried to break the race open through Brooklyn. Chepkirui reached 15K in 52:58, and McClain led a line of four Americans through halfway in 1:13:52, with Ellwood, Amanda Vestri and Lauren Hagans behind her and Obiri tucked in fifth. There were still 10 women in the group, covered by barely a second. Chepkirui went back to the front after that and ran the next 5K in about 17:03 to reach 20K in 1:10:01, and the pace then sagged to 17:26, enough of a lull for Paige Wood to rejoin the leaders after drifting around 11 seconds back.

It was between 25K and 30K that the group finally came apart. The leaders covered that 5K in 16:36, about 5:21 per mile, and by 30K, reached in 1:44:02, there were eight of them left, four Kenyans and four Americans, all within 1.2 seconds. Obiri was in front at 35K in 2:01:15, by which time Cheptoo had lost touch and six women remained: Obiri, Chepkirui, McClain, Kelati, Chelangat and Kiplagat, the 46-year-old who won here in 2010. A year earlier Obiri and Chepkirui had also been together at 35K, with Sharon Lokedi, and Obiri had not got away until the final mile.

This time it was Chepkirui who made the move. She ran 35K to 40K in 16:24, about 5:17 per mile and the fastest 5K of the race, and only Obiri could go with her, the two reaching 40K together in 2:17:39. Kelati, who had been second at 30K, lost more than a minute over that stretch. McClain was the one woman still in touch, 3.4 seconds back, and over the last 2.2K she ran 6:59 to Chepkirui’s 6:57 and Obiri’s 7:04.

The First American Podium Since 2018

McClain, 34, came into the race with the fastest personal best of any American in the field, the 2:20:49 she ran for fifth at the Boston Marathon in April, and she had made no secret that she was aiming higher than first American. “First American honors is always amazing, but I’m thinking bigger than that,” she said in August when the field was announced. Two years ago, on her first trip to New York, she was eighth in 2:27:19.

No American woman had finished in the top three here since Flanagan ran 2:26:22 for third in 2018, according to USATF. The podiums in between went to runners from Kenya, Ethiopia and Israel. McClain’s time is still well short of the fastest by an American woman in New York, the 2:22:49 Fiona O’Keeffe ran last year.

Three more Americans finished in the top eight behind her. Ellwood, who led at 5K, was sixth in 2:26:28, Kelati took seventh in 2:26:51 in her marathon debut, and Wood was eighth in 2:27:29. Kiplagat, the 2010 champion, finished fourth in 2:25:42 at the age of 46, four seconds ahead of Chelangat.

Chepkirui has now finished in the top three in New York in each of the last three years, winning in 2024, placing third behind Obiri and Lokedi last year and winning again on Sunday. Here is our ultimate guide to the New York City Marathon, and the men’s race is covered on our live blog.

Results

1. Sheila Chepkirui (KEN) 2:24:36
2. Jessica McClain (USA) 2:24:42
3. Hellen Obiri (KEN) 2:24:43
4. Edna Kiplagat (KEN) 2:25:42
5. Mercy Chelangat (KEN) 2:25:46
6. Carrie Ellwood (USA) 2:26:28
7. Weini Kelati (USA) 2:26:51
8. Paige Wood (USA) 2:27:29
9. Viola Cheptoo (KEN) 2:28:34
10. Fabienne Königstein (GER) 2:28:49