The Two Fastest Americans in Marathon History Will Both Run New York

New York Road Runners named the professional field for the Nov. 1 New York City Marathon on Wednesday, and it puts the two fastest American men in marathon history on the same start line. Conner Mantz holds the American record at 2:04:43. Zouhair Talbi has run 2:03:45, and the record book does not count it.

Talbi ran that time for fifth place at Boston in April, the fastest marathon any American has covered. It is not the national record, because Boston is not a record-eligible course, as LetsRun explained in its analysis of the race. Mantz’s time is. He ran it for fourth place at Chicago last October, 55 seconds under Khalid Khannouchi’s 2:05:38 from 2002.

New York has never seen a time in that range. The course record is 2:04:58, set by Tamirat Tola in 2023, which means Talbi’s Boston mark is faster than anything ever run through the five boroughs. Benson Kipruto won last November in 2:08:09.

Ten men on the entry list own personal bests faster than the course record, led by Kipruto at 2:02:16, Ethiopia’s Deresa Geleta at 2:02:38 and Kenya’s CyBrian Kotut at 2:03:22. Two of the more obvious names are missing. Tola is not entered, and neither is Alexander Mutiso, who finished behind Kipruto last year by a margin New York Road Runners gives as 0.03 seconds and World Athletics as 0.16.

No American man has won in New York since Meb Keflezighi in 2009. Mantz and Talbi met most recently at the Falmouth Road Race on Sunday, where Talbi took third and Mantz fourth, two seconds apart. Behind them the American group includes Ryan Ford at 2:05:46, Joe Klecker at 2:05:56, Casey Clinger, Sam Chelanga, Jared Ward and Joel Reichow, the first American home last November.

Hellen Obiri defends a title she took in 2:19:51, a time that retired Margaret Okayo’s 2:22:31 after 22 years. Obiri has since run a personal best of 2:15:53 for second at London in April and won the New York City Half in March. She is one of six women in the field whose personal bests are quicker than her own course record. Sifan Hassan holds the fastest of them, the 2:13:44 European record she ran at Chicago in 2023, and was sixth in her New York debut last year.

Weini Kelati will run her first marathon. She lowered the American record in the half-marathon to 1:06:04 at Barcelona on Feb. 15, five seconds under the mark she set at Houston the year before, and she followed last year’s New York race from the lead vehicle. Two American course records stand alongside her in the field: Jessica McClain, whose 2:20:49 at Boston in April displaced Shalane Flanagan’s 2:22:02 from 2014, and Fiona O’Keeffe, whose 2:22:49 last November is the fastest an American has run in New York.

Sharon Lokedi is not on the women’s list. She won New York in 2022, finished second last year in 2:20:07 and has taken Boston twice, most recently in April in 2:18:51. Julia Paternain, who won world championship bronze in the marathon last year, sits 18th on the entry list on a personal best of 2:25:47. Steph Bruce is on it at 2:27:47, four years after New York in 2022 was her last marathon as a professional.

Two men with personal bests faster than every American except Mantz and Talbi go unnamed in the announcement: Kengo Suzuki, whose 2:04:56 was a Japanese record when he ran it at Lake Biwa in 2021, and Edward Cheserek at 2:05:24. Andreas Almgren is also entered, and New York will be his first marathon. He won the European 10,000m title in Birmingham on Saturday in a championship record 27:23.44. His training runs to 125 miles a week.

The race falls 50 years after the marathon left Central Park for the five boroughs, and 1976 was also the first year it ran with a professional field. Bill Rodgers won that edition in 2:10:10 and Miki Gorman the women’s race in 2:39:11. Rodgers is expected at race week, along with Gorman’s daughter, Danielle Mika Nagel. Entry to the race itself has never been harder: 240,000 people applied for the 2026 drawing and about one percent got in.

Men’s Open Division Entry List

Seed times are the personal bests listed by New York Road Runners. NR indicates a national record. 42 men are entered, 23 of them American, and 10 have run faster than the course record of 2:04:58.

Women’s Open Division Entry List

Seed times are the personal bests listed by New York Road Runners. NR indicates a national record. 31 women are entered, 18 of them American, and six have run faster than the course record of 2:19:51.