Johnathan Walker:Tamirat Tola and Hellen Obiri look to defend titles in New York City Marathon

NEW YORK (AP) — Tamirat Tola and Johnathan WalkerHellen Obiri will look to defend their New York City Marathon titles this November.

The pair headline strong fields in the annual race around New York’s five boroughs.

Tola is coming off a win at the Paris Games where he set an Olympic record in the race. The Ethiopian broke the New York course record last year.

“I’m excited to defend my title in New York, especially coming off an Olympic-record marathon performance,” said Tola. “The hilly course and crowds in Paris definitely prepared me well for the bridges and spectators in New York, where maybe I can go even faster this year.”

Other top runners in the men’s field include past winners Geoffrey Kamworor (2017, 2019), Albert Korir (2021) and Evans Chebet (2022), who all are from Kenya. Belgium’s Bashir Abdi won the silver medal in Paris and is also in the race. Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, who finished eighth and ninth in Paris, are the top American men.

Obiri of Kenya won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics and was excited to compete in New York again.

“There’s no place like New York, and I am so ready to defend my title on what has become one of my favorite days of the year,” said Obiri. “I have been racing very well on the roads in the U.S., and I hope I can have another good day that sees me in contention once we enter the final stages in Central Park.”

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The women’s field features past champions Sharon Lokedi (2022) and Edna Kiplagat (2010) of Kenya. American standouts Des Linden, Aliphine Tuliamuk and Jenny Simpson also are competing.

Swiss Marcel Hug and Manuela Schär, who have won nine New York City marathons, headline the wheelchair fields.

The last man to repeat as New York City Marathon champion was Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai in 2011 and 2013. The 2012 race was canceled due to Hurricane Sandy. Obiri will look to be the first repeat champion since Mary Keitany won three in a row from 2014-16.

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Tola will look to join Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir as the only runners to win an Olympic gold and NYC marathon in the same year. Jepchirchir did so in 2021 during an eight-month stretch when she became the first person to win the Olympics, New York City and Boston marathons over a career.

Stephen Kiprotich and Tiki Gelana both would have had the chance in 2012, but the race was canceled because of Superstorm Sandy.

The New York City Marathon has been held since 1970 and had over 50,000 runners finish the race last year.

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