4 Thoughts on 2024 NYC Marathon Elite Fields Headlined by Olympic Champ Tamirat Tola

On Tuesday, organizers for the TCS New York City Marathon announced its elite field for its 2024 edition, to be held on November 3. That means that the fields for all three fall 2024 Abbott World Marathon Majors are now set as Chicago (October 13) announced last month and Berlin (September 29) announced last week.

The headliner in New York is Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola, who dominated the men’s race last year to win in a course record of 2:04:58 and most recently won the Olympic gold medal in Paris in an Olympic record of 2:06:26. He’ll be up against Olympic silver medalist Bashir Abdi of Belgium as well as a trio of Kenyans who have run well in New York in the past: 2022 NYC champ Evans Chebet, 2021 NYC champ Albert Korir, and 2017/2019 NYC champ Geoffrey Kamworor.

The field also boasts four of the top five from February’s US Olympic Marathon Trials as Olympians Conner Mantz and Clayton Young will be joined by Elkanah Kibet and CJ Albertson. Albertson is also signed up to run Chicago just three weeks earlier.

On the women’s side, Olympic bronze medalist Hellen Obiri is back and will attempt to become the first athlete, man or woman, to repeat as NYC Marathon champion since Mary Keitany in 2016. Olympic 4th placer Sharon Lokedi, who won NYC in 2022, figures to be her top competition. Olympic track gold medalists Vivian Cheruiyot and Tirunesh Dibaba are also entered; Cheruiyot has not run a World Marathon Major since 2020, while Dibaba has not run one since 2018.

2024 Olympian Dakotah Lindwurm, who finished 12th in Paris, leads the US women’s field with 2020 Olympian Aliphine Tuliamuk, Des Linden, Jenny Simpson, and 2024 Trials 4th placer Jessica McClain also entered.

Full elite fields below with a four thoughts on the races.

1) The men’s race should be very fun

If you’re a distance fan — and since you’re reading LetsRun.com right now, it’s a safe bet that you are — you should be pumped for the men’s race in NYC. First of all, NYC landed the Olympic champ, Tamirat Tola. How big of a deal is that? This is the first time in 24 years that the men’s Olympic champ has lined up for a fall marathon after winning the Olympics. It certainly helps that Tola is the defending champ in NYC, which means the New York Road Runners have likely been courting him for months.

There is some nice depth behind Tola as well. Bashir Abdi is the Olympic silver medalist, Albert Korir always runs well in New York (2nd, 1st, 7th, 2nd the last four years), and Geoffrey Kamworor is a two-time NYC champ. The question with Kamworor is his health. He ran a pb in his last marathon (2:04:23 for 2nd at 2023 London) but withdrew from NYC last fall and London this spring due to injury.

But the most exciting challenger to Tola is Evans Chebet. This time last year, Chebet was riding a three-race win streak (2022 Boston, 2022 NYC, 2023 Boston) and was among the Olympic favorites. But he missed NYC last fall due to an Achilles injury and though he ran well in his return this spring (3rd in Boston in 2:07:22), it was not enough to put him on the Kenyan team for Paris.

Now Chebet gets his crack at the Olympic champion, and there is more than just a NYC Marathon title on the line. We’ve also got the debate about who is the greatest marathoner in the world. Eliud Kipchoge is (finally) declining and can no longer be in the discussion given his recent track record. Neither, sadly, can Kipchoge’s heir apparent, world record holder Kelvin Kiptum, who was killed in a car accident in February. So who is #1?

Tola has a strong argument given his Olympic win and CR in NYC last fall. So does the man Tola replaced in Paris, Sisay Lemma, who won Valencia and Boston in his last two races but missed the Olympics due to injury. Chebet has not won a race in 16 months, but if he takes down Tola in NYC, suddenly he’s right back in the conversation.

2) Do Conner Mantz & Clayton Young have anything left this year?

Making the Olympic team is a great way to boost your career earnings. Major marathons, road races, speaking gigs — you are more attractive to all of them if they can plaster the word “Olympian” in front of your name. But it is an exercise in delayed gratification. Marathoners make a sizable chunk of income from appearance fees, and America’s top two marathoners, Conner Mantz and Clayton Young received no appearance fees for either of their last two marathons, the Olympic Trials in February or the Olympics in August.

Now it’s time to start cashing in. For Mantz and Young, NYC will be their fourth marathon in the last 13 months (2023 Chicago, 2024 Olympic Trials, 2024 Olympics, 2024 NYC) — probably more than they’d like. But both men have run very well in each of the previous three, and even if NYC doesn’t go well, they’ll spend the entire weekend being feted for their Olympic accomplishments and will leave town with a very nice (and well-earned) appearance fee. Makes sense to give it a go.

3) Where is Scott Fauble?

Scott Fauble was not on the start list for NYC and has not been announced for any other fall marathon so far, which has some on the LetsRun.com messageboard curious about his future. Fauble has DNF’d his last two marathons (2023 Berlin, 2024 Olympic Trials) due to fueling issues, and before the Olympic Trials in February admitted that he likely would not be continuing through to the 2028 Olympic Trials.

“Four years is a long time,” said Fauble, who turns 33 in November. “I’m spending about half of the year away from my wife when I’m training in Boulder and I don’t know that that’s sustainable for another four years.”

What does the future hold for Fauble? We’ll have to wait a little longer to find out. When contacted for this story, Fauble told LetsRun.com he was not yet ready to announce his fall plans.

4) Tirunesh Dibaba and Vivian Cheruiyot are running a marathon?

I’ll admit I was surprised to see Tirunesh Dibaba and Vivian Cheruiyot‘s names as part of the NYC press release. Dibaba and Cheruiyot running a major marathon. In 2024? I felt like the Robin Williams Jumanji meme.

Dibaba and Cheruiyot, of course, are all-time distance legends. Dibaba won eight global titles on the track and the 2017 Chicago Marathon. Cheruiyot won five global titles on the track and the 2018 London Marathon. But it has been a while since either one was relevant on the international distance scene.

Dibaba is 38 but has not raced a marathon since 2018, giving birth twice since then (in January 2020 and December 2021). Her most recent result was a 31:04 10k in Madrid in June. Cheruiyot, 40, last ran a marathon in April, a 2:21 for 4th in Paris, but before that she had not run a marathon since DNFing London in 2020 (she also gave birth to a daughter, Ariel, in 2021).

Do either of them have anything left at this stage of their careers? We’ll find out on November 3.