Olympic champion, Peres Jepchirchir, world champion Gotytom Gebreslase and world cross-country champion Hellen Obiri, will toe the line at the TCS New York City Marathon, a World Athletics Elite Platinum Label road race, on November 6, 2022.
Jepchirchir’s fellow defending champion, Albert Korir, is one of the headline names in the men’s race. The Kenyan will take on Boston Marathon champion Evans Chebet, 2020 London Marathon champion Shura Kitata, and Olympic silver medalist Abdi Nageeye.
Two-time world half marathon champion Jepchirchir is the only athlete (man or woman) to have won the Olympic, New York City, and Boston marathons. She is also the fifth-fastest woman in history, having won the 2020 Valencia Marathon in 2:17:16, making her the fastest entrant for the women’s race in New York.
Last year, Jepchirchir won the Olympic marathon by 16 seconds, and then four months later, he won the New York City Marathon in 2:22:39, just eight seconds off the course record. Then in April, in a back-and-forth race that came down to the final mile, Jepchrichir fended off Ethiopian Ababel Yeshaneh in a thrilling sprint to the finish to take the Boston Marathon title.
Obiri, a two-time world champion over 5000m, will be making her marathon debut. The double Olympic silver medallist set a half marathon PB of 1:04:22 earlier this year and went on to claim silver over 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022.
Gebreslase, the 2021 Berlin Marathon champion, struck gold in the marathon at the recent World Championships, smashing the championship record with 2:18:11.
Two-time world marathon champion, Edna Kiplagat, Israel’s world marathon bronze medalist, Lonah Salpeter, and Ethiopia’s 2015 world 5000m silver medalist, Senbere Teferi, are also in the line-up, as is the US’s Sara Hall and Britain’s Jess Piasecki.
Such is the quality of the men’s field that defending champion Korir isn’t among the 10 fastest entrants.
Chebet, who won the Boston Marathon earlier this year, has the fastest PB in the field with the 2:03:00 he ran to win the 2020 Valencia Marathon.
Shura finished second in New York in 2018, seven months after clocking his PB of 2:04:49 when finishing second in London.
Brazil’s South American record-holder Daniel Do Nascimento, Dutch record-holder Nageeye, Japan’s Suguru Osako and USA’s two-time Olympic medalist Galen Rupp are also among the faster entrants in the men’s race.
(WA)
