One race into their working relationship, marathon runner Rory Linkletter and coach Jon Green make a formidable team.
A few weeks ago, Green accepted a challenge on short notice, saying he would devise a plan to prepare the Calgary-born Linkletter for his first New York City Marathon after the latter’s previous coach, Ryan, Hall, moved on.
On Sunday, Linkletter put the plan into action and posted the third-fastest of his 10 marathons — two hours 11 minutes 42 seconds — 13 seconds quicker than Peter Maher, who before Sunday held the fastest time by a Canadian in the New York race since 1991 at 2:11:55.
An impressive feat, given New York is considered the hardest of the now seven World Abbott Majors after Sydney was added Sunday.
“I wanted to prove to myself that I belonged and could run a hard marathon course,” Linkletter, who moved from Calgary to the United States at age 6 and became a U.S. citizen in 2020, told Canadian Running. “I feel I did that.”
Linkletter, 28, dropped from the lead pack when Evans Chebet of Kenya made a move coming off the Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan around the 26-kilometre mark.
Linkletter, who led through eight km, was 17th among the elite men halfway through the 42.2 km race in 1:05:39. He made up time in the final 15 km and placed 15th.
Linkletter returned to road racing 11 weeks after his Olympic debut in Paris. He was left without a coach with less than 10 weeks until the New York City Marathon.
“My [Olympic] result is one I am not ashamed of, but certainly not one I believe illustrates my capabilities,” Linkletter, a father of two who lives in Flagstaff, Ariz. wrote in an Instagram story at the time. “I’ll probably be here again [at the Summer Games]. Hungrier than ever.”
47th in Olympic debut
New York was the third marathon of 2024 for Linkletter, who was 47th in his Olympic debut. On Feb. 18, he ran a 2:08:01 personal best in the Seville Marathon to automatically qualify for Paris. It’s the second-fastest time ever recorded by a Canadian behind Cam Levins.
Abdi Nageeye and Sheila Chepkirui used strong kicks in the final 1.6 km to pull away from their nearest competitors and win the men’s and women’s races on Sunday.
Nageeye, who became the first runner from the Netherlands to win the men’s race, was step-for-step with 2022 champion Chebet before using a burst of speed heading into Central Park for the final time to come away with the win in 2:07:39. Chebet finished six seconds behind.
“At the finish I was like, am I’m dreaming? I won New York,” Nageeye said.
He had run the New York race three times before with his best finish coming in 2022, when he was third.
“I know the course,” Nageeye said. “Today was two things: survive that race and my race is after 36 [kilometres]. I was thinking like a cyclist, survive 36K and you’re going to win.”
Chepkirui was running New York for the first time and pulled away from defending champion Hellen Obiri in the women’s race in the last stretch.
“Let me push the last mile, let me give it my best,” the Kenyan said. “When we were around 600 metres to go, I said to myself I have to push harder. When I saw Hellen wasn’t coming, I knew I was going to win and was so happy.”
Kenyan women finish 1-2-3
Chepkirui, who started to run marathons in 2022, won in 2:24.35. Obiri finished nearly 15 seconds behind.
Obiri was looking to be the first consecutive champion since Mary Keitany of Kenya won three in a row from 2014-16. Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya finished third, giving the African nation the top three spots.
Tamirat Tola, the men’s defending champion and Paris Olympic gold medallist, finished fourth, right behind Albert Korir.
“I had a good year,” Tola told The Associated Press through a translator. “I won the Olympics and then to come back to New York after that, you know it’s a tough course. I know that I expended a lot of energy. Around the 33-kilometre mark I felt my muscle tighten and my muscles just couldn’t handle it.”
Tola, who set the course record last year, was looking to be the first back-to-back men’s champion since Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya won in 2011 and 2013. The 2012 race was cancelled because of Superstorm Sandy.
The 42.2-kilometre course took runners through all five boroughs of New York, starting in Staten Island and ending in Central Park. This is the 48th year the race has been in all five boroughs. Before that, the route was completely in Central Park when it began in 1970. The first race had only 55 finishers while more than 50,000 competed this year.
The weather was perfect to run in with temperatures around 7 C when the race started. Last year, it was 15 C when the race began.