Sheila Chepkirui Upsets Hellen Obiri To Win 2024 NYC Marathon
Race Recap By David Monti, @d9monti. Quick Take Analysis by Jonathan Gault and Robert Johnson of LetsRun.com
(c) 2024 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
NEW YORK (03-Nov) — In an upset, Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui won her first TCS New York City Marathon today on a gloriously clear and chilly morning here. Chepkirui, 33, pulled away from compatriot and defending champion Hellen Obiri with a little more than 800 meters to go and won in 2:24:35 (1:10:36 for the second half) and captured $100,000 in prize money.
WOMEN STICK TOGETHER
The all-women’s elite race began conservatively, just 18:16 through the first 5-K. But the pace picked up once the mostly flat section of the course in Brooklyn was reached. There were 20 women in the lead pack through 10-K, including eight-time Fifth Avenue Mile champion Jenny Simpson of Boulder, Colo. The 38-year-old announced last week that this would be the last professional race of her career (she would finish 18th in 2:31:54).
“The energy was amazing,” Simpson told Race Results Weekly. “I got to choose a final race, and it had to be New York. I am not from New York, but the best of my running has happened in New York City. So, I feel like if it’s possible for me to have a hometown crowd in the United States, it’s New York City, and they gave that to me today. All through the course, all 26 miles, they were yelling my name. It really moved me today.”
Chepkirui was the nominal leader at halfway (1:13:59), and the lead pack was still 20-strong with all of the race’s best athletes still there, including Kenyans Obiri, Sharon Lokedi, and Vivian Cheruiyot; Ethiopia’s Dera Dida; Bahrain’s Eunice Chumba; and the United States’ Dakotah Popehn, Sara Vaughn, and Kellyn Taylor.
Cheruiyot, 41, was feeling good. The last time she raced in New York was in the New York City Half-Marathon in 2019. On a very cold March day, her body temperature dropped so much that she was forced to drop out and had to go to the hospital.
“I still remember where I stopped,” Cheruiyot told reporters today. “Today the weather was good, at least it was not that bad. It was really freezing from the starting point, but then it was OK.”
The first big move happened on the Queensboro Bridge where the athlete pass through the 25 km point high above the East River. Chepkirui put in a surge and the race began to break up. By the 30 km mark the lead pack had reached the more manageable size of ten: Chepkirui, Obiri, Teferi, Dida, Cheruiyot, Vaughn, Lokedi, Chumba, Britain’s Lily Partridge, and Switzerland’s Fabienne Schlumpf. That downhill 5-kilometer segment was run in 16:52, the fastest split of the race so far. Chepkirui felt strong and in control.
“New York is a bit challenging,” she said. “It’s uphill and downhill, not like London and Berlin. New York takes a lot of strength.” She continued: “Here it’s not about time, it’s about winning.”
With that in mind, she dropped the pace in the next 5-kilometer segment, splitting 16:36 through 35 km and cutting the lead pack down to just five: Chepkirui, Obiri, Teferi, Cheruiyot and Chumba. Vaughn was 17 seconds back in seventh place and was running as the top American. She had dropped out of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon three weeks before with an illness, but was feeling great today.
“Sometimes all it takes is to get a chance,” she said later about New York Road Runners’ decision to give her a last-minute place in the race.
Chepkirui wasn’t done pressing the pace. As the five leaders ran south on Fifth Avenue and entered Central Park at 90th Street, they were running faster than ever. Running single file, Chepkirui led Obiri and Cheruiyot. They hit the 40 km point at 2:17:47, running the fastest 5-K segment of the race, 16:24. That set up the final two-woman clash between Chepkirui and Obiri when the pair entered Central Park for the final kilometer to the finish. Chepkirui knew Obiri was one of the all-time greats, and it would take a special effort to beat her.
“I know Hellen was strong,” Chepkirui said. “What was in my mind I say to myself, let me push. In the last mile I say to myself, I give my best. With 600 (meters) to go I say to myself, I have to push harder.”
With 800 meters to go, Chepkirui led by three strides. She took a look back and realized that Obiri wasn’t closing the gap.
“I saw she was not coming,” Chepkirui said.
From there, the adidas-sponsored athlete sailed to the finish line and beat Obiri by a comfortable 14 seconds. Cheruiyot got third in 2:25:21, and Chumba fourth in 2:25:58. Schlumpf took fifth in 2:26:31, and Vaughn sixth in 2:26:56.
“Winning today means a lot to me,” said Chepkirui. She added: “I’m really happy for the win.”
Obiri was at peace with her runner-up finish. She had won the Boston Marathon last April and had taken the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. Getting second here was a fine season-ending performance.
“For me it was a good race,” Obiri said. “Three marathons in a year; I am so happy to finish the year.”
Vaughn was thrilled to be the top American, especially after dropping out in Chicago.
“I have a very full life and I have designed it that way,” said the mother of four, who also sells real estate. She added: “This is pretty special.” *Results
Top 15 women’s finishers
| Place | Name | Country | Time |
| 1 | Sheila Chepkirui | KEN | 2:24:35 |
| 2 | Hellen Obiri | KEN | 2:24:49 |
| 3 | Vivian Cheruiyot | KEN | 2:25:21 |
| 4 | Eunice Chumba | BRN | 2:25:58 |
| 5 | Fabienne Schlumpf | SUI | 2:26:31 |
| 6 | Sara Vaughn | USA | 2:26:56 |
| 7 | Senbere Teferi | ETH | 2:27:14 |
| 8 | Jessica McClain | USA | 2:27:19 |
| 9 | Sharon Lokedi | KEN | 2:27:45 |
| 10 | Kellyn Taylor | USA | 2:27:59 |
| 11 | Des Linden | USA | 2:29:32 |
| 12 | Edna Kiplagat | KEN | 2:29:56 |
| 13 | Tristin Colley | USA | 2:30:02 |
| 14 | Maggie Montoya | USA | 2:30:53 |
| 15 | Lily Partridge | GBR | 2:30:55 |
Quick Take Analysis by LetsRun.com
Sheila Chepkirui breaks through with first career major win
Today’s victory was the biggest in Chepkirui’s 20-year running career, which dates back to a victory in the 1500m at the World Youth Championships in 2005. Chepkirui sports some impressive pbs – 29:46 for 10k on the roads, 64:36 in the half marathon, and 2:17:29 from her debut marathon in Valencia in 2022 – and today put it all together for her first career marathon victory.
Chepkirui, who trains in Kericho, Kenya, under a program written by coach Julien Di Maria, was reluctant to take up the marathon as she enjoyed running the track. But after she missed the 2022 Worlds in the USA due to a visa issue, she gave it a go, finishing 3rd in her debut in Valencia at age 31. Since then, she has finished 4th and 6th in London and 2nd in Berlin. What allowed her to climb to the top of the podium today?
It certainly didn’t hurt that she was fresh and not doubling back from the Olympics like some of her rivals. Obiri has won her three previous WMM races by outkicking her rivals in the final mile, and had you told us she would be in another final mile showdown today, we would have picked her for the win. But Obiri did not look as strong at the end as she usually does, and she said afterwards it was hard to summon the same kick after a limited buildup (she ran the Olympics 12 weeks ago).
“I didn’t have a lot of time to do a lot of speed, so we concentrated to get healthy and to come here fit,” Obiri said. “I never did anything so crazy with my training for speed.”
The other difference for Chepkirui was a new addition to her routine: gym work. Chepkirui’s agent Davor Savija told us that for the first time in a marathon buildup, Chepkirui began lifting weights and he felt that allowed her to stay strong through the final miles on a tough course.
Hellen Obiri was still proud to finish on the podium
Obiri was not able to kick to the win today but she won’t go home empty-handed as she earned $50,000 for finishing as the World Marathon Majors series champion thanks to a win in Boston and 2nd-place finish in New York. After running three marathons in the last seven months, she is looking forward to a break.
38-year-old Sara Vaughn bounced back from illness in Chicago
The top American today was surprisingly Sara Vaughn, who ran the first 12 miles of Chicago three weeks ago but made the smart decision to drop out as she was “really sick.”
“I’m really excited (about finishing 6th and as the top American),” Vaughn said. “I really wanted top 5. I just couldn’t quite find the wheels that [last] mile.”
Vaughn, who also dropped out of the Olympic Trials in February – said that as soon as she got out of the medical tent after Chicago, she told her agent to try to get her a spot in the NYC field. There was only one problem: NYC was the day after her daughter Calia’s state cross country meet.
Because of her large family, Vaughn does not always have the same flexibility as other runners, noting that she wanted to do some heat training ahead of the Trials last winter but was not able to make it work. She didn’t want to miss Calia’s race, but she got permission.
“She looked at me and said, ‘Mom, you’ve got to go to New York,’” Vaughn said.
In case you’re wondering, Calia, a freshman at Boulder High, finished 30th in the Colorado 5A state meet – a race won by another daughter of a former CU star, Addison Ritzenhein.
Dakotah Popehn had a brutal day and a scary vision problem
It was a surprise that Olympian Dakotah Popehn was only 17th in 2:31:45. “Pretty brutal,” said Popehn after it was over. “It was really great until it wasn’t out there. I had some weird visual things going on. So I’ve got to talk to my coach and figure out what’s going on. I think maybe three good marathons a year is a lot to ask for my body. So I just got to take a break right now.”
When asked what was going on with her vision, Popehn described a pretty scary scenario. “So I started having, like a strobe-light vision. I’m not really quite sure what was happening, but I couldn’t really see the ground in front of me. I started getting hesitant and was really just a death march to the finish line,” said Popehn who added she’d never experienced anything like this before.
Jenny Simpson made her last race as a pro count
Eight miles into today’s race, Jenny Simpson took the lead.
“I know I have no business leading the New York City Marathon, but I came around the curve and I felt good,” said the 38-year-old Simpson, who was running her last race as a pro today. “Literally everybody tells you before a marathon to have fun and I thought what could be more fun than leading the New York City Marathon?”
As for being retired, Simpson is ready for the next stage.
“Honestly it’s kind of a relief. It’s been a long haul,” said Simpson, who added that leading today reminded her of leading the 5th Avenue Mile, which she won eight times, including seven straight between 2013 and 2019.
Simpson, the greatest female miler in US history, will now spend the next year traveling the country in an RV, visiting all 50 states with her husband Jason.
“I’ve had USA stamped across my chest for so many years, for 20 years. My first USA team was in 2004. And I just want to spend a year exploring what that means. Like, what did it mean to represent the United States? Who are these people? What are these places? And the [way] through which I will experience all of that will be running,” said Simpson, who did say she was a little disappointed to just miss her 2:31:39 pb (she ran 2:31:54 today).
Jess McClain post-race
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