Kenyan distance runner Benson Kipruto won the 2025 TCS New York City Marathon in a dramatic finish on Sunday, holding off fellow Kenyan Alexander Mutiso by the slimmest of margins.

Over and over through the final mile and a half, the pair engaged in a battle of indomitable wills. Kipruto would stretch away and glance over his shoulder. Each time, Mutiso surged and followed, refusing to yield.

“Clearly one is the stalker,” John Anderson said on the broadcast. “And clearly one is being stalked.”

At 400 meters, there was only a step between them. Kipruto was pressing a few perilous paces ahead of Mutiso.

By 200 meters, Kipruto, who won bronze in the marathon at the 2024 Paris Olympics, had made his final push, opening a slight gap that looked to have finally broken Mutiso’s will. But he knew better.

“He studies his competitors,” Carrie Tollefson said on the broadcast. “You know dang well he knows what Mutiso can do.”

With 50 meters to go, Mutiso pressed the accelerator and angled his shoulder past Kipruto. In the end, Kipruto held him off by just 16 hundredths of a second — the closest finish in the history of the event.

Kipruto finished with a winning time of 2:08:09, with Mutiso 16 hundredths of a second behind. It was Kipruto’s New York debut, though he had run 18 marathons prior. He’s won in Boston (2021), Chicago (2022), and Tokyo (2024).

In those final steps through the city, it wasn’t the crowd or the course that carried him — it was the weight of his own internal desire and the stubborn heartbeat of a man refusing to be caught, he said.

“The last part is so hard,” Kipruto said. “I was giving myself morale, saying, ‘Come on, you can win it. Come on.’ And I was pushing so hard to make sure I win.”

Hellen Obiri of Kenya celebrates winning the New York City Marathon on Sunday. (Charly Triballeau / AFP via Getty Images)

On the women’s side, the last three New York City Marathon winners — Sheila Chepkirui (2024, Kenya), Hellen Obiri (2023, Kenya), and Sharon Lokedi (2022, Kenya) — stayed together as a pack until mile 24.5, where Lokedi and Obiri made their final pushes.

Obiri surged. Lokedi answered. By the time the two came pounding into Central Park, it was an even, side-by-side fight.

In the final mile, Obiri — who finished second in New York in 2024 and earned Olympic bronze that same year — looked within, found another gear, and opened a few steps of daylight between her and Lokedi. She glanced back twice to see if Lokedi had it in her to follow.

She didn’t look back again.

Obiri crossed the line to win the women’s division in a course-record time of 2:19:51, breaking the previous mark of 2:22:31 set by Kenya’s Margaret Okayo in 2003.

All three Kenyans had won the last three marathons in New York, but Obiri is now the first of the group to win it twice.

“I said in my mind, let me be patient, (up until) the last minute,” Obiri said, “… All of (the trio) have won the New York Marathon. I said, ‘Can I be the first one to win here a second time?’”

The Kenyan trio — Obiri, Lokedi, and Chepkirui — swept the podium. Fiona O’Keefe was the top American woman, finishing fourth overall with 2:22:49.

Marathon legend and two-time Olympic gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya finished 17th in the men’s division with a time of 2:14:36. Kipchoge, who turns 41 on Wednesday, owns four of the 10 fastest marathon times ever and previously recorded the fastest unofficial mark — 1 hour, 59 minutes, 40 seconds — becoming the first human to break the two-hour barrier in a marathon. This was his first appearance in the New York City Marathon, completing his run of all seven major marathons.

Kipchoge has now won the Six Star Medal, which was introduced by the Abbott World Marathon Majors in 2016 to honor the runners who complete the original six Major Marathons (Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, New York City). The Sydney marathon is now recognized as a major, but not one of the original six that Kipchoge has now completed.

“I’m happy to get the Six Star,” Kipchoge said, “and be a real marathoner after crossing all seven world major marathons.”

Joel Richow was the top American men’s finisher, placing sixth overall with a time of 2:09:56.