On the morning of the first Sunday in November, the Staten Island Ferry is bustling with runners heading to the start of the New York City Marathon, an annual event.
The New York City Marathon is unique in that its route passes through five major urban areas in the New York metropolitan area. The race started at the Verrazzano Strait Bridge in the Staten Island District, then crossed Brooklyn, crossed the Pulaski Bridge over Metro Creek, entered Queens, crossed the Queens Bridge over the East River, entered Manhattan, followed First Avenue north, crossed the Willis Avenue Bridge, entered the Bronx, and then turned south across the Madison Avenue Bridge and back to Manhattan again.
Finally, runners head south along the famous Fifth Avenue to the finish line in Central Park. The course crosses five of New York's most important bridges, showcasing the uniqueness of the New York City Marathon while also making the race more difficult and challenging.
Now, the focus has turned to the New York Marathon, which is the final race of the six majors, what surprises and new breakthroughs will this race bring?
The terrible momentum of women's competitiveness in the past two years has continued to the Big Apple. The women's squad is arguably one of the strongest in recent years, bringing together the top athletes at the New York City Marathon, including Olympic champions, Boston Marathon winners, last year's New York City Marathon winners, and former women's world record holders.
The 2022 New York City Marathon was Sharon Lokedi's debut on the 42.195-kilometer long distance, winning with a time of 2:23:23. However, she was unable to race for most of this year due to injury and even withdrew from the Boston Marathon. This time the New York City Marathon is her second time, so her competitive position seems more uncertain than the other top runners. She's eager to defend her title, and hopefully that pressure won't affect her calm, focused, and sane performance in the match.
Like Locke, Hellen Obiri's debut was the 2022 New York City Marathon, where she finished sixth and took home the 2023 Boston Marathon with a personal best of 2:21:38. She is also currently Kenya's 3000m record holder, two-time Olympic medallist and seven-time World Championships medallist.
Peres Jepchirchir won the 2021 New York City Marathon with a time of 2:22:39 seconds and the 2022 Boston Marathon with a time of 2:21:02. The 30-year-old Kenyan is the only athlete to have won the Olympic, New York City and Boston Marathons.
She has been unbeaten since winning in Boston last year until she was defeated by Dutchman's Sifan Hassan in London in April. Jepčhir's personal best was 2:17:16, won at the 2020 Valencia Marathon. There is no doubt that people are curious about her performance in the New York City Marathon this time.
Five-time world marathon Grand Slam champion, Tokyo Olympics women's marathon silver medallist and former world record holder Brigid Kosgei will also be competing in New York for the first time. She won the 2019 Chicago Marathon with a world record of 2:14:04, breaking the previous world record by 81 seconds. Although the record was now broken by Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa at the Berlin Marathon in September with a time of 2:11:53, Kosgei's quality is unquestionable.
Letesenbet Gidey was the only female runner in the NN running group to run the New York City Marathon. The 10,000m bronze medallist at Tokyo 2020 and silver in the 10,000m at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest will compete in her second marathon in New York. Her marathon debut took place at last year's Valencia race, setting the record for the fastest debut in a women's marathon at the time with a time of 2:16:49 and placing sixth in the all-time world rankings, looking forward to seeing her run in the New York City Marathon.
In the men's category, defending champion Evans Chebet, two-time champion Jeffrey Kamvorol and two-time world champion Mosinette Jeremev have withdrawn from the competition. But at the 2023 New York City Marathon, we can expect to see some of the following standout runners:
Maru Teferi, a marathon silver medalist at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, and Abdi Nageeye, a silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics and third place in the last year's New York City Marathon, and Albert Korir, the 2021 New York City Marathon champion, are scheduled to compete.
In addition, 2022 Eugene World Champion Tamirat Tola has also been confirmed to run the New York City Marathon.
Edward Cheserek is the most decorated athlete in NCAA history, with a total of 17 NCAA national titles, including two indoor long distance medley relay titles and a cross-country team title. Although this is his first full-marathon event, he has a 60:37 in the half-marathon before that, making him an interesting rookie to watch.
Since He Jie broke the Chinese record in the 2023 Wuxi Marathon, and then broke the record of the "national marathon" Beijing Marathon, a series of remarkable achievements in the Chinese marathon are quietly happening, and the Chinese road running industry is ushering in a wave of record-breaking.
Not long ago, at the Berlin Marathon, Jia Orirenjia scored 2:09:54 and became the first Chinese runner to run the 210 mark as a non-registered athlete.
From the first run to the 220 blockbuster, to the Berlin 215 in 2019, and then to the 212 champion in 2020, the early Jia Orirenga can be described as smooth sailing. But the sudden, severe strain kept him from going further for two years after recovering from the injury, and 212 was like a thorn in Jaorirenga's heart.
The success of the Berlin Marathon is not accidental, on the red clay track in the small town of Ito, Kenya, accompanied by the moonlight at 5:30 a.m., Jia Orenga is slowly completing his transformation and slowly regaining his form. In the 2023 New York City Marathon, Jia Orirenjia is an elite runner representing China, and we look forward to his greater potential.
We also met Jia Orienga at the horse expo, and we can see that his physical and psychological state is very stable after the Berlin race, and only the experience of the competition can make the athlete grow, and I believe that Jia Orirenga in New York will be more mature than Berlin.
In recent years, domestic brands have shown a strong posture on the global marathon stage, first with Li Ning, followed by Anta, and successfully climbed the podium of the six Grand Slams. If in the past, we said that domestic brands still only had an impact on these traditional international sports brands in the domestic arena, but now the influence of domestic brands in the world arena can no longer be ignored. Can there be a domestic brand to hit the podium?
In addition, as the main sponsor of New York, NEW BALANCE still launched the New York City Marathon-themed 1080 shoes this year.
The answers will all be wafting in the starting gun of the last Grand Slam of 2023~