Ethiopian Tamirat Tola will bid to become the first man to follow an Olympic title with a New York City Marathon win in the same year.
Tola, the Paris Olympic gold medalist and defending New York City champion, headlines the elite men’s and women’s fields for the five-borough race on Nov. 3.
Also announced Tuesday for the New York City Marathon: defending women’s champion Hellen Obiri of Kenya (Olympic bronze medalist), plus the top American finishers from the Paris Games — Conner Mantz (eighth) and Clayton Young (ninth) for the men and Dakotah Lindwurm (12th) for the women.
Traditionally, elite marathoners have raced the distance two times per year — once in the spring and once in the fall. More recently, some have upped it to three races per year with improvements to recovery, including in shoe technology.
New York City is the latest major marathon to be held every year, making it appealing for Olympic runners looking for a late fall race.
Tola’s top challengers in the New York City field include two-time Olympic marathon medalist Bashir Abdi of Belgium and past New York City Marathon winners Evans Chebet (2022), Albert Korir (2021) and Geoffrey Kamworor (2017, 2019), all from Kenya.
The women’s field also features past New York City champions Sharon Lokedi (2022) and Edna Kiplagat (2010) of Kenya; past Olympic gold medalists on the track Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia and Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya and American standouts Des Linden (2018 Boston Marathon champ), Aliphine Tuliamuk (Tokyo Olympic Trials champ) and Jenny Simpson (2016 Olympic 1500m bronze medalist).
Swiss Marcel Hug and Manuela Schär, who own a combined nine New York City wins, headline the wheelchair fields.
Tola, 33, won the Paris Olympic marathon on Aug. 10 in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 26 seconds, an Olympic record time. He was added to that field as an injury replacement for Boston Marathon winner Sisay Lemma two weeks before the race.
Tola became the only person to win an Olympic marathon, a world championships marathon and the New York City Marathon in a career.
Now, he will bid to join Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir as the only runners to win Olympic marathon gold and the New York City 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.
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.
“New York has the kind of course that I like, and Paris also was similar to that kind of (hilly) course, and I was able to win there,” Tola said through a translator. “So I’m hoping that in New York as well, I can repeat my victory, and that’s my primary goal.”
The last American runner to finish in the top three in New York City was Shalane Flanagan, who won in 2017 and was third in 2018.
“I always think about goals in like an A, B and C way,” Lindwurm said. “My C goal in a marathon is just to finish. It’s a beast of a race, especially in New York. My B goal would be to be top 10. I’ve yet to crack top 10 in a world major marathon. I’d say my A goal would be to be on the podium. I don’t think that’s out of reach when I’ve been training so hard on the hills, and for the first time in my life, feel really, really confident on hills.”
The New York City Marathon, run by the nonprofit New York Road Runners, has been held since 1970. It is the world’s largest major marathon with more than 50,000 finishers in 2023.