New York City Marathon elite fields published: Men’s field is fast, women’s field is one for the ages

© Copyright – 2023 – Athletics Illustrated

The New York City Marathon elite fields were published Tuesday, August 29 for the Sunday, November 5th running of the iconic event. Both the women’s and men’s fields look as strong as ever.

According to the New York Road Runners (NYRR), there will be 17 Olympians, 11 World Championships medallists, and six past New York champions.

The men

Topping the bill is Ethiopian Mosinet Geremew bringing his 2:02:55 personal best to the starting line. The 31-year-old ran that time at the 2019 London Marathon. Five times he has finished top-5 at a Majors marathon including London, Chicago and Berlin. However, Geremew is not just a performer on flat and fast courses offering big money. He finished second twice in hot conditions at the 2019 Doha and 2022 Eugene World Athletics Championships.

Kenyan Evans Chebet with his 2:03:00 best will take on New York and Geremew. Like Geremew, his best was a few years ago (2020) and on a flat and fast course in Valencia. Unlike Geremew, he has won hillier races, twice in Boston and once in New York. The 34-year-old is the defending NYCM champion. Chebet ran the Boston Marathon in April clocking a 2:05:54 finish time for the win. He is a tough gamer and will show up ready to challenge for the win.

These are the top elite men for the #GreatNorthRun on 10 September. Six-time race champion, @Mo_Farah, will compete for the last time.

His main opponent, Geoffrey Kamworor, was just announced yesterday for the #TCSNYCMarathon. pic.twitter.com/te6m1qizkU

— David Monti 🥑 (@d9monti) August 30, 2023

Geoffrey Kamworor is another gamer. The Kenyan once held the world record in the half-marathon. The 30-year-old is a two-time NYCM champion having won in 2017 and 2019. He also finished second in 2015. Kamworor was enjoying a career of note until June 2020 when he was hit by a motorcycle, which required surgery and a high volume of physiotherapy.

There was concern that he would not return to his former elite level. Not only did he return well, he clocked a marathon personal best in London this year going 2:04:23. In 2022, he finished fourth at the Bathurst World Cross Country Championships.

Canadian Cameron Levins was slated to compete in the Toronto Marathon on September 24, however, switched to New York for a few reasons. Levins initially set the Canadian record at 2:09:25 on the streets of Toronto and has since improved it to 2:05:36 in Tokyo this past March. Levins burned through a few marathons either with substandard performances (for his own liking) or not finishing. He apparently knew that he could run sub-2:06 and eventually did it under the direction of coach Jim Finlayson. There were a few high-risk, high-reward scenarios in his recent marathons, but his latest is his greatest, so far.

The 34-year-old Vancouver Island native would like to perform well on the biggest stage. During his career, he has either been fighting an injury or under the weather at global events. For the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, he wants to be ready. Switching from the flat and fast Toronto race to New York is about the field, the course and the timing.

“We wanted a good field and a hillier marathon to test him in that environment and see where his strengths and weaknesses are, with hilly Paris (the Olympic course) on the horizon,” shared Finlayson. “NY made sense, also when considering the spacing before the Games.”

Professional Athlete Field – Men’s Open Division

The Women

The women’s field is stacked, as they say. Having the current world record holder in Brigid Kosgei is impressive, add the Tokyo Olympic champion, who beat Kosgei, Peres Jepchirchir into the mix and NYCM packs a 1-2 punch of historic proportions. But that is not all, folks. Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey, who holds the current half-marathon world record is toeing the line. The three boast bests of 2:14:04WR, 2:17:16 and 2:16:49, respectively.

And the NYRR organizing committee didn’t stop there. Add four more sub-2:18 women to the mix including Israel’s Lonah Salpeter, Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw and Kenyan Edna Kiplagat — it should be the greatest women’s NYCM race ever.

Kenyan Hellen Obiri wants to make a statement on the roads. She has already taken care of the track having won two World Championships gold medals and two Olympic silver medals in the 5000m event. Obiri, age 33, has now run two marathons, the 2022 New York was her debut at 2:25:49 and the 2023 Boston Marathon where she ran 2:21:38. Those times are not going to put her on the top of an elite list, but the courses are challenging and New York was her debut. It was a very good performance.

Professional Athlete Field – Women’s Open Division