Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui, Sweden’s Andreas Almgren win 2026 NYC Marathon, as runners and crowds take to the streets

Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui won her second 2026 TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday, finishing the women’s division in 2:24:35. Sweden’s Andreas Almgren won the men’s division in his marathon debut.

Tens of thousands of runners from around the world take part in the iconic race through all five New York City boroughs, starting in Staten Island and finishing in Manhattan’s Central Park. 

The 26.2-mile course is lined with crowds who flock annually to watch loved ones and strangers alike compete. 

Participants run the race in waves. On Sunday, the men’s and women’s professional wheelchair division kicked off the marathon from its starting point in Fort Wadsworth at around 8 a.m. ET, followed by hancyclists and select athletes with disabilities, and then the professional women’s and men’s open divisions. After that, five separate waves of runners started the marathon at different times between around 9 and 11:30 a.m.

Kenyan long-distance stars Hellen Obiri and Benson Kipruto returned to the New York City Marathon this year as its defending champions, after Obiri won the women’s open division and Kipruto won the men’s division in 2025. 

Almgren, the World Half Marathon champion, joined them in his highly anticipated full marathon debut, as did Conner Mantz, the American marathon record-holder, who earned that title after completing the Chicago Marathon in 2 hours, 4 minutes and 43 seconds last year.

NYC Marathon live tracker and results

Spectators can get real-time updates on runners’ progress with the New York Road Runners’ interactive tracker here. 

Once the race is over, you’ll find the winners and full results posted here.

Map shows the 2026 NYC Marathon route

The marathon route goes through all five boroughs, starting in Staten Island, across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn, then Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx before looping back down through Manhattan to the finish line in Central Park. Many streets and bridges will be closed to traffic on race day.