TCS New York City Marathon: 56,000 Runners Take On Five Boroughs as Obiri Bids for Third Title and Almgren Makes Debut

On a cool autumn Sunday morning, more than 56,000 runners from around the world crossed the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to start the 2026 TCS New York City Marathon across the five boroughs of New York City. The elite women's race was headlined by defending champion Hellen Obiri of Kenya, who was bidding for an unprecedented third New York title and aiming to improve on her 2025 course record of 2:19:51, which broke a mark that had stood since 2003. On the men's side, Swedish runner Andreas Almgren — the 2026 World Half Marathon champion who set a European record of 58:06 just six weeks earlier — was making his marathon debut and was installed as the betting favourite. Should Almgren have won, it would have been the first marathon victory by a man making his debut in New York since Gebre Gebremariam in 2010, and the first by a European-born men's champion since Giacomo Leone in 1996. Defending men's champion Benson Kipruto, who won the 2025 edition by just three-hundredths of a second in the closest finish in race history, also returned to defend his title. The women's wheelchair race featured three-time winner Susannah Scaroni, while the marathon marked the 56th running of the five-borough course.