As 26 miles of cheering fans welcomed the New York City Marathon’s return after its cancellation last year, two Kenyan runners achieved victory. Albert Korir won the men’s race, and Peres Jepchirchir took the women’s race with the third-fastest time in its history. Jake Seiner reports.
New York sought a comeback story for its 50th marathon, and Albert Korir delivered. And for a city whose sports fans don’t accept second best, Peres Jepchirchir came through with a memorable first.
Korir and Jepchirchir made it a Kenyan sweep at the New York City Marathon on November 7. Korir, 27, won the men’s race two years after he’d finished second, and Jepchirchir became the only woman to take a major marathon in the fall after earning an Olympic gold medal.
The New York race, the second-oldest of the world’s major marathons, returned after being canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a city where more than 34,000 people have died from the virus, organizers hoped for an uplifting celebration akin to the 2001 marathon, held two months after the 9/11 attacks.
“It was fantastic,” Korir said.
On streets that 21 months ago were largely empty except for ambulances rushing to aid a city paralyzed by the coronavirus – and later filled with anguish and frustration in the days after George Floyd’s murder – there was simply joy, as some 30,000 runners made their way through the city’s five boroughs.
Kenya’s Cheptoo second
In the men’s pro race, Korir overtook Morocco’s Mohamed El Aaraby and Italy’s Eyob Faniel around the 18th mile, and quickly took out any drama. He won in 2:08:22.
“It was not an easy race,” he said. “But I enjoyed it.”
It was Korir’s first victory in one of the World Marathon Majors, and his first time atop any podium since winning the Ottawa Race Weekend Marathon in 2019. He had finished second to Geoffrey Kamworor by 23 seconds in the 2019 New York marathon, and didn’t race again until this June because of the pandemic.
El Aaraby held on for an improbable second-place finish after coming in 11th at the Tokyo Olympics. Faniel was third.
Jepchirchir was side by side with countrywoman Viola Cheptoo and Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh from the time they entered the Bronx until they got to Central Park’s entrance and the race’s final stretch.
Moments after guzzling two energy-gel packets, Jepchirchir turned on the jets and pulled away, winning in 2:22:39 for the third-fastest time by a woman in NYC Marathon history.
“It’s not easy,” she said of the New York course. “Toward the finishing line, I felt something I’ve never felt before to finish a marathon.”
Jepchirchir, 28, came back on a short recovery after her victory in the Tokyo Olympics marathon in August, to win a race once dominated by her recently retired hero Mary Keitany, a four-time winner in New York.
Cheptoo finished second in her marathon debut, and Yeshaneh came third.
The field was shrunk by about 40% this year to help keep runners distanced, and participants had to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours of race day.