Jepchirchir wins in NYC I Cheptoo dedicates run to Tirop

Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir wins the 50th running of the New York Marathon, while Viola Cheptoo dedicated her second-place run to compatriot Agnes Tirop.

Jepchirchir is the first athlete to pick up Olympic gold and win the famed five-borough race in the same year after she crossed the finishing line in two hours, 22 minutes and 39 seconds, with fellow Kenyan Viola Cheptoo and Ethiopian Ababel Yeshaneh finishing second and third respectively.

“After I won Olympic marathon I was not expecting to win,” said Jepchirchir, who had just 13 weeks in between the Games and New York.

“I tried my best to make sure I complete my workouts, my preparations. I’m so happy today.”

Cheptoo dedicated her run to Olympian and compatriot Agnes Tirop, who was found stabbed to death in her home last month.

Kenyan police last month arrested the husband of the 25-year-old two-time World Championship bronze medallist Tirop, whose funeral was attended by over 1,000 mourners.

“It’s been really challenging,” said Cheptoo, who said she would work to raise awareness of gender-based violence.

“There were no signs of abuse because she kept it to herself, and just knowing how she was murdered, the pain that she went through has really affected me.”

Kenyan Albert Korir won the men’s race, having trailed 52 seconds behind the leaders at the halfway point but had established a 17-second lead through the 35-kilometre mark.

He leapt into the air as he broke the tape in two hours, eight minutes and 22 seconds in Central Park, with Moroccan Mohamed El Aaraby finishing 44 seconds behind and Italian Eyob Faniel finishing third.

Sunday’s race went off 13 weeks after the Tokyo Games and capped a chaotic year for the marathon majors after London and Boston were moved from their traditional April dates to October due to the pandemic.