The 2026 TCS New York City Marathon was as good an advertisement for unpaced racing as you will ever see. Could the runners have gone faster with pacers on such a perfect day? Absolutely. Did it matter in the least? Not one whit.
Starting with American Zouhair Talbi’s move on the Pulaski Bridge at halfway, three or four men made serious bids for the lead in the second half. Each time, the lead pack either reeled them in or the runner backed off, and each time the same question arose: How serious is this move? Back in 2000, Abdelkader El Mouaziz of Morocco attacked on that same bridge and was never caught, winning in 2:10:09.
This time, the answer came late. When the ESPN2 coverage finally returned to the men after the stirring women’s battle, Sweden’s Andreas Almgren, running his first marathon, was in a three-man battle in Central Park with Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa and defending champion Benson Kipruto, who had been outside the top ten from 25K to 35K but had stormed back into the picture.
With about 800 meters remaining on Central Park South, Almgren finally shook Crippa and loped to victory in 2:06:01, with 1976 – 1979 five-borough champion Bill Rodgers holding the tape. The Italian was second in 2:06:14. Lesotho’s Kamohelo Mofolo passed Kipruto at the line for third in 2:06:26 on his 21st birthday. Talbi, who led at more checkpoints than anyone, was the top American in sixth in 2:06:43.
The women gave us just as much drama. 2024 champion Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya controlled the lead from 18 miles, yet never comfortably. Hellen Obiri, the defending champion, dogged her the entire way, with American Jess McClain and Kenya’s Mercy Chelangat still in the hunt and hoping.
In the end, it came down to the two Kenyan champions, with McClain just a few agonizing seconds behind in third.
Entering the final stretch as the course reentered Central Park after Columbus Circle, Obiri made her big push. But Chepkirui would not yield. She broke Obiri over the final 365 yards to win her second New York title in 2:24:36. Jess McClain closed like a lioness, passing Obiri in the final few strides for second, six seconds back, ending the American podium drought that stretched back to 2018. Obiri was third, less than half a second behind McClain.
That kind of attack-and-response uncertainty is largely absent from a paced race — by design, because energy expenditure needs to be as controlled as possible for the fastest time to be achieved. Hence, the race follows the same script as Groundhog Day. The pacers take them to halfway at a predetermined clip, a second pacer lasts to 25K, and with luck a third gets them to 30K. Then comes the 5K shakeout to 35K, and only then does the real race begin.
Yes, paced races post their eye-popping times at the end of the day. But the road to those times is old and worn — results often questioned. New York hasn’t used pacemakers since 2007 (I had something to do with that, arguing television preferred the drama of the unknown rather than a predictable, scripted content). And Almgren chose this hilly course for his debut for precisely that same reason. His 2:06:01, with no rabbits to follow but questions to answer, was only 63 seconds outside Tamirat Tola’s course record.
The event isn’t called the New York City Marathon Time Trial. It’s called the New York City Marathon, and it’s a race. In 2026, it gave us a beauty in both the men’s and women’s fields.
It’s worth remembering, the race is what it is. The time is just what it took. And maybe, just maybe, a reemphasis on pure racing might help dampen — even if just a little — the culture of performance-at-any-cost that has contributed to the scourge of PED use.
So thank you, New York Road Runners, for keeping faith in the legacy of racing you’ve built over the last 50 years on this glorious five-borough course. Onward to the next half century.
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