Bekele headlines New York Marathon

In the absence of defending champion Geoffrey Kamworor, the 50th edition of the New York City Marathon will see record-chasing Kenenisa Bekele headline the race alongside Olympic silver medalist Abdi Nageeye. 

The four-time Olympic medalist and 16-time world champion, Bekele will be making his debut in New York just 42 days after his failed attempt at breaking Eliud Kipchoge's world record at the Berlin Marathon. 

Ethiopia's Guye Adola won the Berlin men's race in 2:05.45, well short of Kipchoge's world record of 2:01:39 set in the German capital three years ago with second-placed Bethwel Yegon 29 seconds behind while Bekele finished one minute, two seconds behind Adola. 

Bekele won the 2019 Berlin Marathon in the second-fastest time ever, only two seconds off the world-record time set by Kipchoge in Berlin the year prior.

“I am proud of the many accomplishments in my career, but I have never had the opportunity to compete in the TCS New York City Marathon,” Bekele said in a pre-event interview. 

“I am excited that 2021 will be the year for me to make my attempt in New York. Some of my greatest success has come in cross-country running, and I am told that the hills and turns of New York reward athletes with the strength that comes from running cross-country. I will do my best to join that great list of New York City champions.”

Meawhile, Nageeye comes to the race buoyed by his heroics in Tokyo Olympics marathon where he won silver in 2:09:58.

The Somali-born Dutch runner was 11th at the Rio 2016 Olympic marathon and has finished in the top-10 at the Boston Marathon twice. He holds national records in both the marathon and half marathon.

“I am now a different athlete to the one I was. I probably could have got away with turning up to Amsterdam in 70 per cent shape and no-one would have really noticed.

But as an Olympic silver medallist I need to turn up in full force and that extra three weeks of training has allowed me to put in all the long runs, fartleks and track sessions I need. The timing of the race in early November worked well.

I know it is a tough race, a tactical race; the classic marathon. I watched the last six or seven New York Marathons and always dreamed I would one day run there," he told his stable NN Running Team. 

Both Kenya’s Kibiwott Kandie and Great Britain’s Callum Hawkins will also make their TCS New York City Marathon debuts. Kandie is the half marathon world-record holder and a 2020 World Half Marathon Championships silver medalist, and he will be covering the 26.2-mile distance for the first time in his career.

Hawkins is a two-time Olympian who finished fourth at both the 2019 and 2017 World Championships in the marathon.

The 2019 TCS New York City Marathon second and third-place finishers, Kenya’s Albert Korir and Ethiopia’s Girma Bekele Gebre will return in attempt to repeat their podium performances, in addition to 2016 race winner Ghirmay Ghebreslassie of Eritrea.