- Sharon Lokedi secured the women’s title in an event record time of 1:07.04.
- The 2025 United Airlines New York City Marathon is a World Athletics Gold Label road race.
- Lokedi and Abel Kipchumba were each awarded over Ksh 2,500,000 for winning their events.
The Kenyan duo of Abel Kipchumba and Sharon Lokedi were crowned the 2025 United Airlines New York City Marathon champions on Sunday evening.
Lokedi, who finished fourth in the 2022 edition, ran a calculated race and went on to set a new event record of 1:07.04.
The 31-year-old was followed by American athlete American runner Fiona O’Keefe and Great Britain’s Calli Hauger-Thackery, who clocked 1:07.46 and 1:07.49 respectively.
The comfortable win ensured Lokedi, who was part of the team that represented Kenya in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, became one of the few athletes to register victories in both the New York City Marathon and New York City Half Marathon.
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The Kapkenda Girls High School alumni won the New York City Marathon title in 2022, beating the likes of Hellen Obiri, Edna Kiplagat and Viola Cheptoo Lagat respectively.
Similar to the women’s category, the men’s title also went to a Kenyan citizen with Abel Kipchumba stunning big names to emerge victorious.
Kipchumba ran away with the coveted title in an event record time of 00:59.09. The 31-year-old was followed by the United States’ duo of Conner Mantz and Hillary Bor. Bor, who was born in Kenya, crossed the finishing line in a time of 59:55 to finish behind Mantz (59:15).
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Lokedi and Kipchumba were each awarded prize money of $20,000 (approximately Ksh 2, 589,000 as per the current exchange rate) for their performances.
However, the money is subject to the usual tax procedure as well as several other deductions such as agent fees.
Lokedi’s focus will now shift to the upcoming 2025 Boston Marathon where she will battle it out for glory with the likes of the defending champion Hellen Obiri, Amane Beriso and Irine Cheptai.
Nearly 29000 athletes took part in the 2025 United Airlines New York City Half Marathon that started from Brooklyn and ended in Manhattan.
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