Coverage Homepage

Post Race: Men’s Post-Race | Women’s Post-Race 

Pre-Race:
Men: Men’s Preview & Starter List | Men’s Athlete Bios
Women: Women’s Preview & Starter List | Women’s Athlete Bios
Head-to-Heads: Elite Athlete Past Matchups

See Also: Starter List (bottom of page) | Men’s Bios

Headlining the men’s field at this year’s NYC Marathon are the top four finishers in the 2018 race: defending champion and recent World Championship winner Lelisa Desisa, runner-up Shura Kitata, 2017 NYC Marathon champion and 2018 3rd place finisher Geoffrey Kamworor, and 4th place finisher Tamirat Tola. Desisa, who holds a personal best of 2:04:45 and is best-known for his Boston Marathon victories in 2013 and 2015, faces stiff competition from Kitata, the man he beat by only two seconds in the 2018 event and whose personal best of 2:04:49 is just four seconds slower. Kamworor, 2017 NYC Marathon winner and 2016 and 2018 Half Marathon World Champion remains a force to be reckoned with as well; his 3rd place time as last year’s event (2:06:26) was just fourteen seconds off his PR, which was run seven years ago on the much faster and flatter Berlin course. Rounding out the returning foursome is Tola, less experienced on the podium and the world marathon stage but possessing the fastest PR in the field – 2:04:06 – and surely seeking to place higher than his 2018 4th place finish. American Jared Ward, last year’s 6th place and top American finisher, is likely to repeat as top American as he heads into the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials; his new personal best of 2:09:25 was set this year on the challenging Boston Marathon course and he is familiar with both the course and the competition he’ll face in NYC. Joining him in their final major race before the Trials are fellow Americans Abdi Abdiraham, Tyler Jermann, Craig Leon, Tyler Pennel and Tyler McCandless.

Male Elite Athletes

Athlete	Country	Personal Best	NYC
Tamirat Tola (28)	ETH	2:04:06, Dubai, 2018	History
Lelisa Desisa (29)	ETH	2:04:45, Dubai, 2013	History
Shura Kitata (23)	ETH	2:05:01, London, 2019	History
Geoffrey Kamworor (26)	KEN	2:06:12, Berlin, 2012	History
Albert Korir (25)	KEN	2:08:03, Ottawa, 2019	History
Yassine Rachik (26)	ITA	2:08:05, London, 2019	History
Arne Gabius (38)	GER	2:08:33, Frankfurt, 2015	History
Abdi Abdirahman (42)	USA	2:08:56, Chicago, 2006	History
Jared Ward (31)	USA	2:09:25, Boston, 2019	History
Michel Butter (33)	NED	2:09:58, Amsterdam, 2012	History
Yoshiki Takenouchi (27)	JPN	2:10:01, Fukuoka, 2017	History
Daniel Mesfun (31)	ERI	2:10:03, Toronto, 2018	History
Brett Robinson (28)	AUS	2:10:55, London, 2019	History
Jack Rayner (23)	AUS	2:11:06, London, 2019	History
Stephen Sambu (31)	KEN	2:11:07, Chicago, 2017	History
Tadesse Yae (30)	ETH	2:11:27, Pyongyang, 2019	History
Birhanu Dare (33)	ETH	2:12:21, Duluth, 2018	History
Mustafa Mohamed (40)	SWE	2:12:28, Hamburg, 2012	History
Tyler McCandless (33)	USA	2:12:28, Sacramento, 2017	History
Kiya Dandena (30)	USA	2:12:56, Sacramento, 2017	History
Harbert Okuti (34)	UGA	2:13:01, Duluth , 2019	History
Tyler Pennel (31)	USA	2:13:32, Minneapolis-St. Paul, 2014	History
Tyler Jermann (27)	USA	2:13:39, Houston, 2019	History
Joe Whelan (28)	USA	2:13:39, Duluth, 2019	History
Craig Leon (34)	USA	2:13:41, Sacramento, 2017	History
Jarrett LeBlanc (29)	USA	2:13:51, Sacramento, 2018	History
Brendan Martin (30)	USA	2:15:30, Duluth, 2015	History
Louis Serafini (28)	USA	2:17:25, Albany, 2016	History
Matt McClintock (25)	USA	2:18:03, Sacramento, 2018	History
John Raneri (28)	USA	2:18:07, Philadelphia, 2015	History
Mo Hrezi (28)	LBA	2:18:40, Ottawa, 2001	History
Mizael Carrera (28)	PUR	2:19:29, New York City, 2018	History
Jamie Julia (35)	PUR	2:20:17, Hamburg, 2016	History
Jorge Maravilla (42)	USA	2:21:57, Gold Coast, 2016	History
Connor McMillan (23)	USA	2:23:28, Chicago, 2016	History
Collin Bennie (24)	USA	Debut	History
Andy Vernon (33)	GBR	Debut	History