By Chris Chavez
August 19, 2025
New York Road Runners has unveiled its professional field for the 2025 TCS New York City Marathon on November 2nd.
This year’s field features stars from 20 different countries and nine former champions. Last year’s race was won by Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands and Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui – both notched their first World Marathon Major victory. Both are back to defend their titles.
Here are the full fields with some thoughts and takeaways at the bottom:
Men's Elite Field
- 🇰🇪 Benson Kipruto (2:02:16 PB)
- 🇪🇹 Deresa Geleta (2:02:38 PB)
- 🇰🇪 Evans Chebet (2:03:00 PB)
- 🇰🇪 Alexander Mutiso (2:03:11 PB)
- 🇳🇱 Abdi Nageeye (2:04:20 PB, NR)
- 🇹🇿 Alphonce Simbu (2:04:38 PB)
- 🇳🇴 Sondre Nordstad Moen (2:05:48 PB, NR)
- 🇫🇷 Felix Bour (2:06:46 PB)
- 🇨🇭 Matthias Kyburz (2:06:48 PB)
- 🇰🇪 Abel Kipchumba (2:06:49 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Biya Simbassa (2:06:53 PB)
- 🇰🇪 Albert Korir (2:06:57 PB)
- 🇪🇷 Tsegay Tuemay (2:07:35 PB)
- 🇫🇷 Emmanuel Levisse (2:07:41 PB)
- 🇦🇺 Pat Tiernan (2:07:45 PB)
- 🇮🇹 Daniele Meucci (2:07:49 PB)
- 🇪🇷 Yemane Haileselassie (2:08:25 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Alex Maier (2:08:33 PB)
- 🇬🇧 Jonny Mellor (2:09:09 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Colin Bennie (2:09:38 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Reed Fischer (2:10:14 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Joel Reichow (2:10:37 PB)
- 🇮🇹 Pasquale Selvarolo (2:11:34 PB)
- 🇯🇵 Yudai Fukuda (2:13:19 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Ryan Eiler (2:13:36 PB)
- 🇬🇧 Matthew Leach (2:15:31 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Tim McGowan (2:15:40 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Sean Grossman (2:18:45 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Hillary Bor (Debut)
- 🇬🇧 Patrick Dever (Debut)
- 🇺🇸 Charles Hicks (Debut)
- 🇺🇸 Joe Klecker (Debut)
- 🇨🇦 Charles Philibert-Thiboutot (Debut)
Top-Heavy Field
This year’s field includes four men who have run under 2:04:00 in their careers. The men’s record remains 2:04:58 by Tamirat Tola in 2023. Tola went on to capture Olympic gold in Paris last summer and then took fourth in last year’s race. He will not be back in New York this fall and has opted to race the Amsterdam Marathon in October instead. Olympic bronze medalist Benson Kipruto leads the field with the fastest personal best with his 2:02:16 from the 2024 Tokyo Marathon. He was seventh in March’s Tokyo Marathon in 2:05:46 and will be racing New York City for the first time. Ethiopia’s Deresa Geleta is looking for his first World Marathon Major victory after a breakout 2024 that included a 2:03:27 win at the Sevilla Marathon in February, a 5th place showing at the Paris Olympics and then a 2:02:38 PB for second place at the Valencia Marathon (No. 3 Ethiopian all-time).
Nageeye and Evans Chebet had a tightly-contested battle heading into the closing mile in Central Park last year. Both men are looking for their second New York City win.
Nageeye Changes It Up
On a call with select media on Monday, I asked Nageeye whether he’s changed much in his training set-up from one year to the next. He shared that he advised Sifan Hassan and her coach Tim Rowberry to come and train in Kenya before this year’s London Marathon and she asked him to come and visit their camp in Park City, Utah this summer. Nageeye revealed that Rowberry is partially coaching him. He is currently back in Kenya and planning to stay there until New York.
Biya Simbassa, Alex Maier To Make Majors Debut
Last year, Simbassa raised eyebrows when he clocked the fastest marathon performance by an American of 2024 with a 2:06:53 at the Valencia Marathon. It moved him to No. 4 on the U.S. all-time list behind Khalid Khannouchi, Galen Rupp and Ryan Hall. He did not run a spring marathon but has continued to explore the roads and notched a 10K personal best of 27:32 in ASICS’ Tokyo Speed Race back in May. He has not been as dominant as some may have expected on the U.S. scene.
Alex Maier, who won the U.S. Half Marathon Championships in March, went on to make his marathon debut in April and ran 2:08:33 for the win at the Düsseldorf Marathon.
Both will get their first crack at a World Marathon Major field in New York.
Americans Flock For Debuts
Three* Americans will be making their marathon debuts in New York. Joe Klecker, a U.S. Olympian at 10,000m, is maybe the most anticipated of the bunch because of his strong ties to the marathon. His mother, Janis, was the 1992 U.S. Olympic Marathon trials champion. His father, Barney, held the 50-mile world record and actually ran 2:29:32 at the 1978 New York City Marathon (73rd of 7,780 finishers).
“Even when I was out there this last weekend running the course, it was really cool to think 4 years ago my dad was out here racing it,” Klecker told reporters. “For me to go back now and be in the elite field and race it myself has that extra meaning that this is a continuation for me of my parents’ legacy.”
However, the fastest American half marathoner in the field set to debut is Hillary Bor, a two-time U.S. Olympian in the steeplechase and five-time World Championship competitor. Bor ran 59:55 at the New York City Half in March to become the fifth American man to break 60 minutes in the half marathon. He has been adamant about his true calling being the roads.
The last notable American set to make his debut is Charles Hicks, who is in the process of switching his allegiance from Great Britain to the U.S. and has been training in Eugene, Oregon the past two years. (Update: Upon publishing this piece, Preet Majithia notified me that according to his World Athletics profile Charles Hicks' allegiance switch has gone through.) The 24-year-old ran 45:14 to win the U.S. 10-Mile Championships, but although it’s faster than Alex Maier’s 45:15 (2nd place in the same race), it still can not count toward the American record books until World Athletics finalizes his allegiance switch.
Women’s Elite Field
- 🇰🇪 Sharon Lokedi (2:17:22 PB)
- 🇰🇪 Sheila Chepkirui (2:17:29 PB)
- 🇰🇪 Hellen Obiri (2:17:41 PB)
- 🇪🇹 Gotytom Gebreslase (2:18:11 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Emily Sisson (2:18:23 PB, NR)
- 🇰🇪 Vivian Cheruiyot (2:18:31 PB)
- 🇰🇪 Edna Kiplagat (2:19:50 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Sara Hall (2:20:32 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Susanna Sullivan (2:21:56 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Fiona O’Keeffe (2:22:10 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Molly Seidel (2:23:07 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Annie Frisbie (2:23:21 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Sara Vaughn (2:23:24 PB)
- 🇮🇪 Fionnuala McCormack (2:23:46 PB)
- 🇬🇧 Eilish McColgan (2:24:25 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Kellyn Taylor (2:24:20 PB)
- 🇨🇭 Fabienne Schlumpf (2:24:30 PB, NR)
- 🇺🇸 Stephanie Bruce (2:27:47 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Elena Hayday (2:30:51 PB)
- 🇲🇽 Argentina Valdepeñas (2:35:16 PB)
- 🇺🇸 Khia Kurtenbach (2:39:50 PB)
- 🇳🇴 Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal (N/A)
- 🇬🇧 Jessica Judd (Debut)
- 🇺🇸 Amanda Vestri (Debut)
Sharon Lokedi vs. Hellen Obiri Round 7
Sharon Lokedi and Hellen Obiri have a friendship when they’re not racing but a fierce rivalry on the roads. This year’s New York City Marathon will be their seventh marathon showdown since 2022 and their fourth time in New York City.
A quick refresher on their history…
- 2022 – Lokedi wins in her marathon debut in 2:23:23; Obiri fades to sixth in her debut in 2:25:49
- 2023 – Obiri wins in 2:27:23; Lokedi takes third in 2:27:33
- 2024 – Obiri outsprints Lokedi in the final mile to win the Boston Marathon in 2:22:37, Lokedi takes second in 2:22:45
- 2024 – Obiri pulls away to snag the Olympic bronze medal in Paris in 2:23:10; Lokedi finished fourth in 2:23:14
- 2024 – Obiri finishes second in the New York City Marathon in 2:24:49; Lokedi struggles and finishes ninth in 2:27:45
- 2025 – Lokedi flips the script on Obiri and wins the Boston Marathon in 2:17:22; Obiri takes second in 2:17:41
As of right now, the score over the marathon distance is 4–2 Obiri.
Emily Sisson Makes Her New York City Marathon Debut
American record holder Emily Sisson is making a long-awaited New York City Marathon debut. She has been a fixture in New York Road Runner races for many years, but has primarily stuck with flat, fast marathons for Majors. This is also her first marathon since the Paris Olympics, where she finished 22nd in 2:29:53 on the hilly course in Paris. (Her record also has a DNF from the hilly U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in 2020.) She’s looking to challenge the perception that she only fares well on flat courses.
Sisson told me that she has casually chatted with her former training partner Molly Huddle, who finished third at the 2016 New York City Marathon and fourth at the 2017 New York City Marathon, on some advice.
“One of the reasons I picked New York was because of advice she gave me back in 2018 or 2019,” Sisson says. “She told me that for my first marathon or any marathon, ‘Pick a marathon that really excites you or motivates you to get out the door. Because some days you are really tired and run down and you want to have something that you’re really excited to be working toward.’ I felt like going into this year and this fall, New York was the one I was really excited to do and the one I felt most motivated for. I went back to that advice.”
Key Returns By American Stars
Molly Seidel, the Olympic bronze medalist from the Tokyo Olympics, will be racing her first marathon since her 2:23:07 personal best at the 2023 Chicago Marathon. She withdrew from the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials due to injury. This is her first time back in New York City since running 2:24:42 at the 2021, which remains the fastest by an American woman on the course.
Fiona O’Keeffe will tackle her first marathon since dropping out of the Paris Olympics less than 5K into the race due to injury. O’Keeffe returned from the Olympics and was diagnosed with a femoral stress fracture. O’Keeffe did not race again until this past March, when she finished second at the NYC Half in 1:07:46. Most recently, she was the top American and third overall in 31:36 at the Beach To Beacon 10K on Aug. 1st. Her personal best of 2:22:10 from her victory at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials ranks her No. 11 on the U.S. all-time list.
Intriguing Debuts
Amanda Vestri, a New York native, will be making her marathon debut after a year that included a personal best of 1:07:35 for the half marathon (No. 9 on the U.S. all-time list) and finishing third at the U.S. Half Marathon Championships. Most recently, she was eighth in the 10,000m at the U.S. Outdoor Championships.
Jessica Judd is debuting after attempting to make a comeback on the track in 2025 after struggling with seizures in 2024.
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Chris Chavez
Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and on Feb. 15th, 2025 finally broke five minutes for the mile.
