After Galen Rupp's win in Chicago, we wondered if his close was the fastest in marathoning history and quickly the LetsRun.com community let us know that wasn't the case.
Similarly, Flanagan's close over the final 5.2 miles in hilly New York were super impressive but not the fastest in marathoning history. Flanagan covered the final 5.21875 miles from 21 to the finish in 26:48 which averages out to be 5:10.0 mile pace. Paula Radcliffe ran her 2:15:25 WR at 5:09.9 pace and ran her final 12.2k at 5:07.2 pace.
But Flanagan's close appears to have been the best close in NY history. It certainly was way faster than what Mary Keitany has ever closed in during the last three years when Keitany won in 2:24:26, 2:24:25 and 2:25:07 (admittedly faster times than what Flanagan ran this year (2:26:53)). The fastest close that Keitany ever had in New York was in 2014 when she was in a battle with doper Rita Jeptoo all the way to the finish line. In that 2014 NY race, which Keitany won by three seconds in very windy conditions, her last four miles were 5:10, 5:25, 5:10 and 5:09.
We also looked it up and Flanagan's close was better than of Paula Radcliffe's three wins in NYC.
So our question to you is - do you know of any better closes in NY (or elsewhere)?