2019 TCS New York City Marathon – Women’s Preview
MarathonGuide Staff
Nov 03, 2019
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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) | Women’s Bios
| Photo Credit: Victah Sailer / PhotoRun 4-Time NYC Champion, Mary Keitany, Hopes to Make it 5 |
The incomparable Mary Keitany leads the women’s field, chasing her fifth victory in six years after a three-year string of wins from 2014 – 2016, a 2nd place finish in 2017 and a follow up victory by a definitive three minutes in 2018, during which she ran the second fastest time in the history of the event, 2:22:48. Keitany, who also holds the women’s only world record in the marathon (2:17:01), has twice won the London Marathon and was the 4th place finisher in the 2012 Olympic Marathon. She will face competition from Ruti Aga, whose 2:18:34 PR, set in Berlin, is the second fastest in the field; Joyciline Jepkosgei, the Half Marathon World Record holder (1:04:51) making her marathon debut; and a strong contingent of American women – Desiree Linden, Sara Hall, Kellen Taylor, Aliphine Tuliamuk, Allie Kieffer and Roberta Groner – who have all run under 2:30. While Linden (2:22:28) and Hall (2:22:16) have PR’s that could easily catapult them into some of the top spots, how this shakes out remains to be seen.
Aga, while the second fastest woman in the field, has run primarily flat courses to date and may find her speed challenged by the NYC topography. Hall, who recently ran an astonishing four-minute PR in Berlin, has successfully run two competitive marathons in a five-week time frame in the past, winning the second, and is excited to race on a course that emulates the Trials. Linden and Kieffer both have a history of finishing in the top ten at New York, but Linden had a disappointing Boston and Kieffer has battled with injury throughout the year. Taylor, Tuliamuk and Groner are all capable of breaking into the top ten but would need to race all-out to do it; Taylor, Tuliamuk and Groner are all capable of breaking into the top ten but would need to race all-out to do it; Taylor believes she has a shot at the podium and intends to go for it. Tuliamuk, still regaining fitness after an injury earlier this year, is hoping to run sub 2:30 and improve her previous placement while testing her current fitness against some of the top American women. It will certainly be exciting to watch how the strong field of American women performs alongside the field at large, especially with the Trials less than four months out.
Female Elite Athletes
| Athlete | Country | Personal Best | NYC |
| Mary Keitany (37) | KEN | 2:17:01, London, 2017 | History |
| Worknesh Degefa (29) | ETH | 2:17:41, Dubai, 2019 | History |
| Ruti Aga (25) | ETH | 2:18:34, Berlin, 2018 | History |
| Nancy Kiprop (40) | KEN | 2:22:12, Vienna, 2019 | History |
| Sara Hall (36) | USA | 2:22:16, Berlin, 2019 | History |
| Desiree Linden (36) | USA | 2:22:38, Boston, 2011 | History |
| Sinead Diver (42) | AUS | 2:24:11, London, 2019 | History |
| Kellyn Taylor (33) | USA | 2:24:28, Duluth, 2018 | History |
| Ellie Pashley (30) | AUS | 2:26:21, Nagoya, 2019 | History |
| Belaynesh Fikadu (32) | ETH | 2:26:41, Houston, 2019 | History |
| Aliphine Tuliamuk (30) | USA | 2:26:50, Rotterdam, 2019 | History |
| Yinli He (31) | CHN | 2:27:35, Chongqing, 2015 | History |
| Diane Nukuri (34) | USA | 2:27:50, London, 2015 | History |
| Buze Diriba (25) | ETH | 2:28:06, Houston, 2019 | History |
| Allie Kieffer (32) | USA | 2:28:12, New York City, 2018 | History |
| Mary Ngugi (30) | KEN | 2:28:33, Boston, 2019 | History |
| Roberta Groner (41) | USA | 2:29:09, Rotterdam, 2019 | History |
| Gerda Steyn (29) | RSA | 2:31:04, New York City, 2018 | History |
| Kaitlin Goodman (32) | USA | 2:32:08, Sacramento, 2017 | History |
| Danna Herrick (33) | USA | 2:32:19, Frankfurt, 2018 | History |
| Lindsey Scherf (33) | USA | 2:32:19, Duluth, 2015 | History |
| Sasha Gollish (37) | CAN | 2:32:54, Houston, 2019 | History |
| Kate Landau (43) | USA | 2:33:29, Chicago, 2018 | History |
| Katy Jermann (27) | USA | 2:33:41, Houston, 2019 | History |
| Alia Gray (30) | USA | 2:34:00, Chicago, 2016 | History |
| Nicole DiMercurio (28) | USA | 2:36:03, Sacramento, 2017 | History |
| Bizuwork Getahun (30) | ETH | 2:36:29, Pittsburgh, 2019 | History |
| Bose Gemeda (24) | ETH | 2:39:15, Richmond, 2018 | History |
| Meseret Ali (31) | ETH | 2:40:41, Pittsburgh, 2014 | History |
| Paula Pridgen (33) | USA | 2:41:29, Boston, 2019 | History |
| Jennifer Bigham (38) | USA | 2:41:37, Eugene, 2019 | History |
| Margo Malone (26) | USA | 2:42:22, Zurich, 2019 | History |
| Lauren Perkins (37) | USA | 2:42:55, Chicago, 2018 | History |
| Ana Johnson (37) | USA | 2:43:11, Ottawa, 2018 | History |
| Megan Foster (41) | USA | 2:43:44, Chicago, 2017 | History |
| Molly Bookmyer (28) | USA | 2:44:07, Houston, 2019 | History |
| Joyciline Jepkosgei (25) | KEN | Debut | History |
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