Hendrik Pfeiffer briefly takes the lead in the first few kilometers in New York. Image: picture alliance/dpa/AP
On the demanding New York track, it’s not about best times, but about victory. Ethiopian Tamirat Tola wins his first city marathon. But a German is also happy.
You can run the New York Marathon fast or slow. This was proven once again on Sunday by around 50,000 runners, the last of whom, 72-year-old Michael Rosengarten from West Palm Beach in Florida, reached the finish after 11:42:21 hours. The fastest was the Ethiopian Tamirat Tola, forty years younger and nine and a half hours faster: the world champion from Eugene 2022 and world championship runner-up from London 2017 won his first big city marathon in 2:04:58 hours.
After about twenty kilometers, less than half the distance, he left the competition behind and strived alone towards his outstanding victory. Because he beat Geoffrey Mutai’s twelve-year-old course record by eight seconds, he received a bonus of $50,000 (46,500 euros) in addition to the prize money of $100,000 (93,000 euros).
