NEW YORK — You never forget your first, and surely Sharon Lokedi will never forget her latest Sunday morning in Manhattan. The 28-year-old Kenyan woman, who lives in Arizona, won her first New York City Marathon in her first try, taking home the title in 2 hours, 23 minutes, 23 seconds at the latest running of the famous 26.2-mile, five-borough gauntlet.
“I didn’t expect to win,” Lokedi said. “I expected to run well. But, it ended up being a good outcome, so I’m excited.”
The race, Lokedi’s first professional marathon anywhere, marked the eighth time a runner has won the New York City Marathon in their true marathon debut. Earlier this year, Lokedi finished second in the New York Mini 10K in 30:52, third in the B.A.A. 5K in 15:16, and fourth in the NYC Half Marathon in 1:08.14.
“I just came in [and] wanted to be in the race,” Lokedi said. “I knew I was strong. I had really good training. I just wanted to go and put myself in it, race, and see where I ended up.”
Runners begin on Staten Island, run through Brooklyn and Queens into Manhattan, turn around in the Bronx, and head back toward the finish line in Central Park. Over 50,000 runners were expected to make the journey behind the professionals.
Lokedi was 10th at the 10K mark (34:26), sixth at the halfway point (1:12:17), third at 35K (1:59:13), and finally overtook Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter in the 25th mile. Chemtai Salpeter finished in 2:23:30, unable to catch Lokedi on the final Central Park stretch.
“Halfway through, I felt really good,” Lokedi said. “I had really good help from Salpeter. We really helped each other.”
As for more marathons — specifically in the 2024 Olympics in Paris — Lokedi wasn’t ready to commit yet, but didn’t say no.
“To be honest, I’m just going to enjoy this, go back to Arizona, sit down with my coach, and lay out the plan for the next,” she said.
While the women’s race featured a marathon novice, the men’s field crowned a champion who's already made his name in the marathon game. Evans Chebet, winner of the Boston Marathon in April, won in 2:08:41 in his first NYC Marathon. He is the first man to win both Boston and New York in the same calendar year since Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai in 2011.
Chebet, a 33-year-old Kenyan, has now finished first or second in 12 marathons. He first won at the Buenos Aires Marathon in 2019.
The race was dominated early by Brazil’s Daniel Do Nascimento. Nascimento, 24, began at a blistering pace on an unseasonably warm November day, with temperatures in the 70s, running the first 10 kilometers in 28:42 and the half-marathon in 1:01:22, leaving open the possibility of a course-record bid (2:05:06, set by Mutai in 2011).
But, the pace caught up to Do Nascimento in a big way. He began to falter 20 miles in — first leaving the course for an 18 second Port-A-John stop at mile 21, and then falling down shortly after, receiving medical attention, and dropping out as his bid for a wire-to-wire victory ended.
“I didn’t know how far he was, but I knew it was hot and humid and he was going at a high pace,” Chebet said through an interpreter. “I have a lot of experience. I knew I was going to surpass him.”
But, others weren’t so sure.
“I think, to be honest, everyone was worried because, at 25K, I think [he was] still far,” said Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands, who finished third in 2:10:31. “So that’s why I was the one mostly pushing the pace.”
This was not the first time Do Nascimento went down after a taking a big lead. It happened at the Tokyo Olympics last year.
“I want to feel sorry for him when I saw him on the ground,” said Nageeye, 33. “But I was like, ‘Come on, man. You did that in the Olympics.' ”
Do Nascimento is OK, race organizers said.
Both winners were awarded $100,000.
Course records fell in both wheelchair divisions. American Susannah Scaroni won the women’s race in 1:42:43, breaking fellow American Tatyana McFadden’s 2015 record of 1:43:04. Switzerland’s Marcel Hug won his fifth men’s title, this time in 1:25:26, which broke Australian Kurt Fearnley’s 2006 record of 1:29.22.
“I knew my speeds were really high,” Scaroni said. “I was trying to maintain as high a pace as I could, knowing how strong of a field I had behind me.”
Scaroni continued: “I knew that tailwind was really helping me out today and I tried to take advantage of that as long as I could. That being said, when you hit the headwind at about mile 21, especially at Fifth Avenue and into the park, it’s always hard.”
Hug and Scaroni each won $75,000 — $25,000 for winning and an addition $50,000 for breaking the course record.
Top 10 Men
1. Evans Chebet, Kenya, 2:08:41.
2. Shura Kitata, Ethiopia, 2:08:54
3. Abdi Nageeye, Netherlands, 2:10:31
4. Mohamed El Aaraby, Morocco, 2:11:00
5. Suguru Osako, Japan, 2:11:31
6. Tetsuya Yoroizaka, Japan, 2:12:12.
7. Albert Korir, Kenya, 2:13:27
8. Daniele Meucci, Italy, 2:13:29
9. Scott Fauble, Oregon, 2:13:35
10. Reed Fischer, Colorado, 2:15:23.
Top 10 Women
1. Sharon Lokedi, Kenya, 2:23:23
2. Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, Israel, 2:23:30.
3. Gotytom Gebreslase, Ethiopia, 2:23.39
4. Edna Kiplagat, Kenya, 2:24:16
5. Viola Cheptoo, Kenya, 2:25:34
6. Hellen Obiri, Kenya, 2:25:49
7. Aliphine Tuliamuk, New Mexico, 2:26:18
8. Emma Bates, Colorado, 2:26:53
9. Jessica Stenson, Australia, 2:27:27
10. Nell Rojas, Colorado, 2:28:32.
