© Copyright – 2026 – Athletics Illustrated
Hellen Obiri of Kenya won the New York City Half Marathon on Sunday, clocking a solid one hour, six minutes and 33 seconds. In the process, she broke the course record and defeated defending champion and fellow Kenyan Sharon Lockedi.
Obiri outpaced Lokedi by 37 seconds; following for third place was Megan Keith from the UK, three seconds back of Lockedi for a new personal best time. The top American was Emily Sisson, who took sixth position in 1:09:06. Ten finishers ran sub-1:10:00.
The 36-year-old Obiri is a two-time Olympic silver medallist in the 5000m distance event. She is also a two-time gold medallist at the World Championships. While moving to the marathon late in her career, she has won Boston twice and New York once. Her personal best over the half-marathon distance is 1:04:22 from the 2022 edition of the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon run in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.
The men’s race
In the men’s race, it was South Africa’s Adriaan Wildschutt in 59:30. While he won handily, the margin was tighter than in the women’s race as Zouhir Talbi from the US clocked in at 59:41. Kenyan Abel Kipchumba took third in 59:49.
Wildschutt was coming off a win at the Absa Run Your City Gqeberha 10km in 27:47 two weeks ago in South Africa.
In New York, he sat patiently until about 18km, then he made a decisive move to scatter the field. And it was later in the race, over the closing km, when he improved the pace even more, for the commanding win.
For Wildschutt, it was a strong performance as his personal best is 59:13 from the Valencia course, which is known to produce fast results. The 27-year-old ran that time in October last year.
Rory Linkletter from Canada clocked in an even 1:00:00 for seventh place. He is Canada’s second-fastest marathon runner behind Cameron Levins, who has run 2:05:36 in Tokyo. Linkletter ran 2:06:49 in Chicago in 2025. Linkletter owns a half-marathon best of 59:49 from Houston two months ago. It is the national record.
Six men ran under one hour.
There were 30, 229 finishers.
Women
Hellen Obiri, 1:06:33CR – KEN
Sharon Lokedi, 1:07:10 – KEN
Megan Keith, 1:07:13PB – UK
Diane Van Es, 1:08:21PB – Netherlands
Fentaye Belayneh, 1:08:22 – ETH
Emily Sisson, 1:09:06 – USA
Amanda Vestri, 1:09:22 – USA
Annie Frisbie, 1:09:25 – USA
Susanna Sullivan, 1:09:38 – USA
Emily Venters, 1:09:46 – USA
Konstanze Klosterhalfen, 1:10:04 – GER
Dakotah Popehn, 1:10:06 – USA
Agnes Ngetich, 1:10:25 – KEN
Lauren Gregory, 1:11:12PB – USA
Elena Hayday, 1:11:21 – USA
Felicia Pasadyn, 1:11:59PB – USA
Calli Hauger-Thackery, 1:13:16 – UK
Stephanie Bruce, 1:13:23 – USA
Lindsay Flanagan, 1:14:02 – USA
Emily Durgin, 1:14:45 – USA
Men
Adriaan Wildschutt — 59:30 – RSA
Zouhir Talbi — 59:41PB – USA
Gulveer Singh, 59:42PB – IND
Alex Maier, 59:51 – USA
Peter Lynch, 59:52PB – IRE
Patrick Dever, 59:56PB – UK
Rory Linkletter, 1:00:00 – CAN
Patrick Kiprop, 1:00:01 – KEN
Joe Klecker, 1:00:02 – USA
Syunsuke Kuwata, 1:00:13PB – JAP
Jack Rowe, 1:00:17PB – UK
Ryan Ford, 1:00:22 – USA
Daniel Ebenyo, 1:00:50 – KEN
Grant Fisher, 1:00:53PB – USA
Camren Todd, 1:02:06 – USA
Alex Masai, 1:02:09 – KEN
