Fionnuala McCormack produced another fine run to finish in 10th place in the New York City Marathon, just seven weeks after finishing in ninth place at the World Championships.
The testing 26.2-miles through the five city boroughs is no place for fast times, still McCormack clocked 2:27:00 – over three minutes faster than she ran at those World Championships in Tokyo.
It’s the best placing for any Irish woman in the event. The mother of three turned 41 in September, and is showing no signs of slowing down as she mixed it with some of the very best women in the world.
McCormack ran 2:30.16 to finish ninth in Tokyo, breaking into the top 10 for the first time at a global championship, 18 years after the Wicklow athlete competed in her first World Championships in Osaka in 2007, when she ran the 3,000 metres steeplechase.
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Last December McCormack improved her lifetime best to 2:23:46 in Valencia, four months after she became the first Irish woman to compete in five Olympics. The prospect of making a sixth Olympics draws ever closer – her 2:27:00 being the fifth fastest time of her career.
The fine running conditions made for two exciting races. The elite women’s field in New York was suitably star-studded, as three from former New York champions battled it over the last six miles – defending champion Sheila Chepkirui, 2023 winner Hellen Obiri, and 2022 champion Sharon Lokedi.
It was Obiri who found the extra gear inside the last mile, winning in 2:19:51 to smash the New York course record of 2:22:31 which had stood to fellow Kenyan Margaret Okayo since 2003. Lokedi held on for second in 2:20:07, with Chepkirui third in 2:20:24. Olympic champion Sifan Hassan was sixth in 2:24:43, the Dutch star dropping off with just under six miles to run.
McCormack set off with her usual cautious approach, running just off the leaders for the opening mile, before sitting in at the back of the lead pack. She passed halfway in 72:05, at which point she was in 13th position, 62 seconds behind the leader, before moving up three places in the second half the race. Obiri clocked an incredible 68:50 for the second half of her race.
The men’s race produced a dramatic photo finish, Kenyans Benson Kipruto and Alexander Mutiso crossing the line together in 2:08:09, after Mutiso made one last surge for the line inside the last 200m. Kipruto was given the verdict by just .16 of a second, and with that became the first man to win the New York, Boston and Chicago marathons.
The previous best Irish women’s finisher in New York was Sonia O’Sullivan, who finished in 12th place back in 2002, running 2:32:06, after dropping from the leaders around the 16-mile mark.
Given New York’s testing course, McCormack was unlikely to challenge Catherina McKiernan’s Irish record of 2:22:23, which was set in Amsterdam back in 1998. However on a faster course in the spring that might still be within her reach.
