The Shoes That Won the 2026 New York City Marathon

Andreas Almgren won the New York City Marathon on Sunday in a pair of shoes nobody can buy until January. The Swede ran 2:06:01 in his marathon debut wearing the Nike Apex, giving Nike’s new zero-drop racer its first win at a World Marathon Major, while Sheila Chepkirui took the women’s race in 2:24:36 in the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, the shoe that has won more majors this year than any other.

The rest of the podium was spread across four more brands. On had two runners in the top three, with Yemaneberhan Crippa second in the men’s race and Hellen Obiri third in the women’s, both in the Cloudboom Strike 2 LS. Kamohelo Mofolo of Lesotho took third in the men’s race in the Xtep 160X 8.0 Pro, and Jessica McClain ran to second in an unreleased Brooks development shoe, which means two of the six podium runners raced in shoes that are not yet in stores. New Balance, the race’s footwear partner according to House of Heat, had nobody in the top three.

Nike Apex: Almgren

Almgren came to New York six weeks after winning the world half-marathon title in Copenhagen, and he raced the distance with the patience of a far more experienced marathoner. He sat in a pack of 10 men that was still together at 35K, then covered the last 7.2K in 20:27 to win by 13 seconds. His time was only four seconds outside Suldan Hassan’s Swedish record.

Nike unveiled the Apex on Sept. 30 and says it will go on sale in January 2027, though it has yet to announce a price. The shoe has a 40mm stack at both the heel and the forefoot, so there is no drop at all, and it packs four Air Zoom units into the forefoot in two stacked pairs. They sit in ZoomX LT, a new PEBA-based foam, above a redesigned carbon Flyplate. Nike lists the shoe at 176g in a men’s 8.5 and claims it returns up to 40 percent more energy than the Alphafly 3.

The Apex had reached a major podium before Sunday. Brigid Kosgei and Milkesa Mengesha both finished in the top three in Chicago in October wearing it, and Jacob Kiplimo ran 2:00:28 for third in London in April in a prototype. Almgren is the first to win a major in it.

Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3: Chepkirui

Chepkirui now has two New York titles in three years, and her winning time was just one second slower than the 2:24:35 she ran here in 2024. She made her move between 35K and 40K, running that stretch in 16:24, the fastest 5K of the women’s race, and only Obiri could go with her until the final 2.2K.

The Pro Evo 3 went on sale in April at $500. It weighs about 97g in a men’s 9.5, making it the first Adidas running shoe to come in under 100g. Sabastian Sawe wore it in London in April when he ran 1:59:30, the first sub-two-hour marathon in a record-eligible race, and in Berlin all six podium finishers wore it. Adidas put it back on sale on Oct. 29, three days before New York.

The brand came close to a second podium place in the men’s race. Benson Kipruto, the defending champion and one of Adidas’s lead athletes in New York, finished fourth, only 0.55 seconds behind Mofolo.

On Cloudboom Strike 2 LS: Crippa and Obiri

On’s two podium places were both settled by small margins. Crippa, the Italian, finished 13 seconds behind Almgren in 2:06:14. Obiri, the defending champion and course record holder at 2:19:51, was caught by McClain in the final 200 meters and finished third in 2:24:43, only four-tenths of a second out of second place.

Both wore the LightSpray version of the Cloudboom Strike 2, which is what the LS in the name stands for. Its upper is 3D-printed, sprayed on by a robot as one seamless piece with no glue, and that brings the weight down to 158g, compared with 191g for the standard laced Strike 2, according to Believe in the Run. The LightSpray model sells for $310. On released the Strike 2 on July 30 with a dual-density midsole in its updated Helion HF foam, which the brand says is 15 percent lighter than the last generation, over a new curved carbon Speedboard.

Brooks Development Shoe: McClain

McClain’s second place made her the first American woman on the New York podium since Shalane Flanagan was third in 2018. She had been 3.4 seconds behind Obiri at 40K and ran her down on the short rise before the finish to clock 2:24:42.

She did it in a Brooks development shoe that has not gone on sale, and it appears to be the next step for the brand’s Hyperion Elite racing line. The current model, the Hyperion Elite 6, came out on Aug. 1 at $275, with a nitrogen-infused PEBA foam Brooks calls DNA Gold and a SpeedVault+ carbon plate. It is built quite differently from the shoe that won the men’s race. Where the Apex has no drop, the Hyperion Elite 6 has 7mm, with a 40mm heel and a 33mm forefoot, according to Road Trail Run, which weighed a men’s 9 at 198g. How much of that carries over into McClain’s shoe is not yet known.

Xtep 160X 8.0 Pro: Mofolo

Mofolo turned 21 on race day and marked it with a run more than two minutes faster than his previous best, holding off Kipruto for third by just over half a second in 2:06:26. He was the only runner in either top three wearing a Chinese brand.

Xtep launched its 160X 8.0 range at an event in Shanghai on Aug. 21 with three models, and the Pro sits below the Ultra, which uses the company’s new GT1200 carbon plate. Xtep says the Pro weighs 179g, about 17 percent lighter than the model it replaces. International retailers list it at about $300, with Xtep’s ACE+ supercritical foam over a full-length carbon plate. The company says the 160X line has been the most-worn shoe in Chinese marathons for three years running.

Podium Results and Shoes

Women

1. Sheila Chepkirui (KEN), 2:24:36, Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3
2. Jessica McClain (USA), 2:24:42, Brooks development shoe
3. Hellen Obiri (KEN), 2:24:43, On Cloudboom Strike 2 LS

Men

1. Andreas Almgren (SWE), 2:06:01, Nike Apex
2. Yemaneberhan Crippa (ITA), 2:06:14, On Cloudboom Strike 2 LS
3. Kamohelo Mofolo (LES), 2:06:26, Xtep 160X 8.0 Pro

The full top 10 from Sunday’s race is in our New York City Marathon results.