Tamirat Tola and Hellen Obiri look to defend their NYC marathon titles against strong fields

NEW YORK (AP) — Defending New York City Marathon champions Tamirat Tola and Hellen Obiri are looking to be the first repeat winners in nearly a decade.

“It was not easy to win New York; I know every athlete who is coming here is confident,” said Tola, who set the course record last year. “I also compete to win, so I know I’m up for the task.”

If Tola does win on Sunday, the 33-year-old from Ethiopia will be the first man to repeat as champion in New York since Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya won in 2011 and 2013. The 2012 race was canceled because of Superstorm Sandy.

Tola has more history on the line: He is looking to join select company by becoming only the second runner to win both an Olympic gold and the NYC marathon in the same year, equaling the feat accomplished by Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya in 2021.

Jepchirchir is the first runner to win the Olympic, New York and Boston marathons over a career.

Tola is coming off a win at the Paris Games, where he set an Olympic record in the marathon. He said the Paris and New York race courses were similar because of the hills.

To defend his title on his favorite course, he’ll have to beat a stellar field that includes past winners Geoffrey Kamworor (2017, 2019), Albert Korir (2021) and Evans Chebet (2022), who all are from Kenya.

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Bashir Abdi of Belgium won the silver medal in Paris and also is in the race. Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, who finished eighth and ninth in Paris, are the top American men.

Obiri, a 34-year-old from Kenya who won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, is trying to become the first woman to win consecutive races since Mary Keitany of Kenya won three in a row from 2014-16.

“Winning back to back is what I’m looking forward to,” Obiri said.

She’ll need to beat her own loaded field to accomplish that feat. Other past champions in Sunday’s race on the women’s side include Sharon Lokedi (2022) and Edna Kiplagat (2010), both of Kenya. American standouts Dakotah Popehn and Jenny Simpson also are running.

“I keep calling this my encore tour,” said Popehn, who got married last weekend. “When I’m having fun I race the best anyway. My goals are to be the top American, keep that title going from the Olympics. I think I can be in the top five overall.”

Swiss stars Marcel Hug and Manuela Schär, who have won nine New York City marathons, headline the wheelchair fields. Hug has won every race he started this year, including at the Paris Paralympics.

The NYC marathon has been held since 1970 and had more than 50,000 runners finish the race last year. The race is organized by the nonprofit New York Road Runners. Runners can get into the marathon a variety of ways, including a qualifying time, a lottery or charitable contributions.

For the first time, the organization added a “Team for Climate” that allowed runners to donate $3,000 for carbon credits to get entry into the race. While it’s been warm all week in New York, with temperatures in the 70s and 80s Fahrenheit (20s Celsius), race day is supposed to see it cool down to the 50s.

Trying to improve the experience for runners after the 26.2-mile race, New York Road Runners worked with the city and arts organizations to provide deals on some museum entries and tickets to Broadway shows.

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