2023-11-05 17:47:08
New York (AFP) – Kenyan Hellen Obiri won the world’s most famous marathon on Sunday following an incredible final sprint in the streets of New York, where Ethiopian Tamirat Tola won solo among the men with a record of the race for the key.
Published on: 05/11/2023 – 18:47
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A former world record holder, a title holder in New York, the half-marathon world record holder, the winner of the Boston marathon… The women’s field of the New York marathon was of a density rarely seen on this race and the announced fight between these “Fantastic Four” took place.
Starting off on a very slow basis, the favorites hid until the 35th kilometer before blowing up the race and finishing at full speed.
In this game, it was the former track specialist Hellen Obiri, double world champion in the 5,000 meters in 2017 and 2019, who was the best on Sunday, ahead of another tartan regular in the last few hundred meters. , the Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey.
On a hilly course where the time is only anecdotal, Obiri, who at the age of 33 had won his first marathon victory in Boston in April, crossed the line in 2 hours 27 minutes and 23 seconds, only six seconds ahead of Gidey , world record holder for the 10,000 meters and the half-marathon.
Behind, the defending champion Sharon Lokedi completes the podium (+ 10 sec). Brigid Kosgei, who held the world distance record a few weeks ago, finished just off the podium.
Race record for Tola
The race scenario was completely different for the men, where everything seemed possible following the withdrawals of the Kenyan favorites Evans Chebet and Geoffrey Kamworor. But the Ethiopian Tamirat Tola, who started with the best time of the entrants, took the lead from halfway through the race to quickly get rid of the competition and win the race alone.
Kenyan Hellen Obiri wins the New York marathon in New York, United States, November 5, 2023 © TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP
By finishing in 2 hours 4 minutes and 58 seconds, he was almost two minutes ahead of the Kenyan Albert Korir (2nd at 1 minute and 59 seconds) and the Ethiopian Shura Kitata (+2 min 13 sec). He also captured the race record which dated from 2011, becoming the first man to finish the world’s most famous marathon under 2 hours 05 minutes.
“I’m very happy, it’s the first time I’ve won a major marathon, which is very important for me, and also a race record,” Tola reacted at the finish. World champion over the distance in 2022, the 32-year-old Ethiopian was unable to defend his title in Budapest this summer, forced to withdraw due to stomach aches.
The New York Marathon is the last “major” marathon of the year. With 50,000 runners at the start, it closes a 2023 season marked by two new stratospheric world records.
In Berlin at the end of September, the Ethiopian Tigist Assefa took more than two minutes (2 h 11 min 53 sec) to the old mark held since 2019 by Brigid Kosgei. Two weeks later in Chicago, the young Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum (2:00:35) erased his elder Eliud Kipchoge from the books.
Runners of the 52nd edition of the New York Marathon on the Verrazano Bridge in New York, United States, November 5, 2023 © Kena Betancur / AFP
The times will have one last chance to panic this year with the Valencia marathon (Spain), known to be very fast, on December 3.
© 2023 AFP
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