Obiri, Kiplimo win New York City Half Marathon

Multiple world 5000m champion Hellen Obiri braved a cold morning on the streets of New York to win the New York City Half Marathon women's race in a race record time of 67:21

Obiri led the race from gun to tape, fending off a strong challenge from world 5km record holder, Ethiopia’s Senere Teferi to ultimately take the title by 34 seconds.

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The duo broke away early in the race and quickly opened a gap between them and the chasing Diane van Es. Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal and Jessica Warner-Judd followed closely behind. 

Obiri and her challengers were soon the favourites and even though the Kenyan attempted to move upfront, the Ethiopian matched her almost stride for strides as they hit 5km 15:50 and 15:51. 

The two were still neck to neck, hitting 10km in 31:29 and 31:30 with Obiri's projected finish time 1:06:25. at that point. 

Teferi was, however, unable to keep up with the Kenyan and she was more than six seconds behind as Obiri completed 15km in 47:29. 

Grøvdal was in third as the positions remained unchanged at the finish. 

In the men's race, it was a Ugandan 1-2 finish as world half marathon record holder Jacob Kiplimo maintained his supremacy adding the New York title to his tally. 

Kiplimo took charge of the race at the half way point, and created a huge gap for a runaway win in 61:31 minutes ahead of his Ugandan compatriot Joshua Cheptegei.

The 22-year-old ran the race (20 at the time) in 57:31 two years ago. On February 18, he also won the 2023 Bathurst World Cross Country Championships to indicate his emergence as the king of off track running. 

The best placed Kenyan in the men's field was Edward Cheserek in fifth position. 

Women

1. Hellen Obiri 67:21

2. Senbere Teferi 67:55

3. Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal 69:53

4. Diane van Es 70:43

5. Des Linden 72:21

Men 

1.Jacob Kiplimo     61:31 

2.Joshua Cheptegei 62:09 

3.Zouhair Talbi      62:18  

4.Ben True          62:57 

5.Edward Cheserek  62:58