An American Day at the NYC Marathon: Jess McClain Takes Second, and Zouhair Talbi Runs the Fastest U.S. Time in Race History
No American won on Sunday — but the home runners had their best New York day in years: a women's podium finish that ended an eight-year wait, three more U.S. women in the top eight, and a men's time no American has ever matched on this course.
Start with the finish everyone in Central Park saw. Jessica McClain of Scottsdale, Arizona spent the last miles of the women's race chasing the defending champion, and in the last 30 meters she caught her: McClain passed Hellen Obiri to finish second in 2:24:42, six seconds behind winner Sheila Chepkirui. She is the first American woman on the New York podium since 2018.
She was not alone at the front. Every one of the women's top nine finishers came from Kenya or the United States, and behind McClain the American depth ran deep: Carrie Ellwood finished sixth, marathon debutant Weini Kelati seventh and Paige Wood eighth. For a race that has spent a decade as a Kenyan procession at the front, Sunday's women's results sheet reads like a home result.
The men's race gave the home crowd its own mark. Zouhair Talbi, who led the field as late as mile 14 and still stood fourth at 40 kilometers, finished sixth — and his time, reported at 2:06:43, is the fastest ever run by an American man at the New York City Marathon. Ahmed Muhumed finished about a minute behind him. The longer drought stands — no American man has won here since Meb Keflezighi in 2009 — but the record Talbi set is the kind a drought ends behind.
The depth was the theme of the day at every level: the deepest and fastest field the race has assembled carried 40 Olympians and Paralympians, 25 Olympic, Paralympic and World Championship medalists and 22 national record holders through the five boroughs. The champions' files are elsewhere on this site; this is the home file, and on Sunday it was a good one.
