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NEW YORK – Mary Keitany of Kenya and Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia won the New York Marathon on Sunday. Keitany dominated the strong women 's squad for her fourth victory of the competition and Desisa beat two other runners near the finish line.
Desisa, 28, beat her compatriot Shura Kitata by 1.99 seconds to win her first win in New York, joining the Boston marathon victories in 2013 and 2015. He finished second in New York in 2014 and third in 2015. and 2017.
Desisa finished in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 59 seconds, the second fastest time for the course of history. Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya set a record of 2:05:05 in 2011. Last year's winner Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya was third on Sunday.
"It's my dream," Desisa said. "To be a champion."
Keitany, 36, became the second woman to win the marathon four times. She ran the race in 2:22:48, the second fastest time for the course of history. Margaret Okayo of Kenya set the record of 2:22:31 in 2003.
Keitany won in 2014, 2015 and 2016 before becoming second last year to American Shalane Flanagan. She joined Grete Waitz, a Norwegian woman who won the marathon nine times between 1978 and 1988, as the only woman to win the marathon four times.
"I can say that the registration of the course was not in my mind," said Keitany. "For me, winning was very important."
She and Ethiopia's Rahma Tusa and Gudeta turned to a squad of three women at the 15-mile mark. Keitany moved away from Tusa and Gudeta to the 30 km mark, leading Tusa to 26.58 seconds and Gudeta to 43.98 seconds. She extended her lead over Tusa to 1: 27.83 at the 21-mile mark.
From there, the question was not whether Keitany would win. It was rather how much.
She beat peasant Vivian Cheruiyot by 3 minutes and 13 seconds.
Flanagan was third.
"You have to find the motivation, the things you focus on," said Flanagan. "When I finally came in third place, I had another level of excitement because I was fighting."
The United States had four women in the top 10: Molly Huddle was fourth, Desiree Linden was sixth and Allie Kieffer was seventh.
Four Americans also finished in the top 10: Jared Ward was sixth, Scott Fauble seventh, Shadrack Biwott ninth and Chris Derrick tenth.
Daniel Romanchuk became the first American to win the men's wheelchair division with a time of 1:36:21. Romanchuk finished 01.15 seconds ahead of Switzerland's Marcel Hug. The Englishman David Weir, the American Aaron Pike and Australian Kurt Fernley round out the top five.
"I need air and I have pain," said Romanchuk, 20, of Champaign, Illinois, who won the Chicago Marathon last month. "It's wonderful to be able to win my two major Abbott marathons on American soil – it's an amazing experience."
Manuela Schar of Switzerland has won several times in the women's wheelchair division. Schar, who also won the marathons of Berlin and Chicago, finished with a time of 1:50:27. USA's Tatyana McFadden finished second with a time of 1:50:48. Lihong Zou of China was third. Eliza Ault-Connell of Australia and Margriet Van Den Broek of the Netherlands were fourth and fifth.
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