Hellen Obiri of Kenya set a course record to win the New York City Marathon, while Benson Kipruto held off Alexander Mutiso Munyao in a sprint to the finish line to take the men's race Sunday.
Obiri, who also won the race in 2023, finished in 2 hours, 19 minutes, 51 seconds. She was running with 2022 winner Sharon Lokedi until she pulled away from her countrymate in the final mile, surging ahead and besting the previous course record of 2:22:31 set by Margaret Okayo in 2003.
Defending champion Sheila Chepkirui finished third. All three beat the previous course best.
Kipruto appeared to have pulled away from Mutiso Munyao in the final mile, but a final surge from Mutiso Munyao put them side by side at the finish tape. Kipruto unofficially won the race by less than 0.2 seconds, finishing in 2:08:09.
He added the New York title to previous wins at Tokyo, Chicago and Boston.
In the women's race, the trio of former champions separated themselves heading into the Bronx at Mile 20. American Fiona O'Keeffe and Dutch runner Sifan Hassan had made it a pack of five once the group entered Manhattan a few miles earlier but couldn't hang on for the final six miles.
This was the first time that the previous three women's winners had been in the same race since 2018. The trio didn't disappoint, putting forth stellar efforts in the second straight year that Kenyans took the top three spots.
O'Keeffe finished fourth.
Marcel Hug of Switzerland and Susannah Scaroni of the United States won the men's and women's wheelchair races, with Hug taking his record seventh victory in the race and Scaroni claiming her third title.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
