|
Coverage Homepage
Post Race:
Men's Post-Race |
Women's Post-Race
| Complete Searchable Results
Pre-Race:
Men:
Men's Preview & Starter List
Women:
Women's Preview & Starter List
Head-to-Heads: Elite Athlete Past Matchups
Extras:
Pace Calculator/Pace Guide/Viewing |
Videos (Athletes/Archival/More...)
More News:
Press Releases |
News (other sources)
Featured Book/Movie:
Run For Your Life |
A Race Like No Other
The 50th Running of the New York City Marathon - The Men's Race [photos to be added soon, when available]
Return of Racing
The story for Fall of 2021 was that marathoning was returning... After a year of cancellations due to COVID-19, we were all ready to see some competition returning. However, with the London and Boston Marathons unable to proceed with their April dates and moving to the Fall, available athletes were snapped up by the plethora of races and, honestly, the depth of the field for the New York City Marathon was not what it has been. What made the situation worse, was the unavailability of Geoffrey Kamworor, the champion in 2017 and 2019 and 2018 third finisher. Kamworor suffered from some injuries which curtailed his training and caused him to withdraw from participating in the Tokyo Olympics or to defend his New York City Marathon title.
With the absence of the defending champion, New York was able to recruit Kenenisa Bekele - the second fastest marathoner in the world and Abdi Nageeye, the silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, and Kibiwott Kandie, the world record holder in the half marathon. As for this field, we wondered at Bekele's prospects as he had recently failed to finish the Berlin Marathon and his speciality was on fast courses with the support of pacemakers to lead him to a fast time - this type of racing was anathema to what takes place in New York. And we wondered whether Kandie, with just one mediocre marathon under his belt, could extend his success at the half marathon distance to the full marathon distance.
Running Away from the Field
Sometimes a mid-tier runner is allowed in the elite field and then runs to the front of the race at the beginning to steal some television time. This is generally confusing to unsophisticated spectators who don't understand the runner has no business being that far in the front and is really sacrificing the rest of his race to gain television time. Events also don't generally like this behavior. Nonetheless at the beginning of the 2021 New York City Marathon, Thijs Nijhuis of Denmark ran away from the field and built up a ten second lead to be alone on the television coverage... Don't get us wrong in saying that Nijhuis isn't a generally talented athlete having competed for Denmark in the European Championships at various distances and at the world championships in the Half Marathon and Marathon as well as the Tokyo Olympics in the Marathon. However, with a best time at the marathon of 2:18:10 (31st place at the 2019 world championships) and a recent marathon time of 2:26:59 (70th at the Tokyo Olympics), there was no possibility that Nijhuis could place at the New York City Marathon and the rest of the field ignored his running away from the pack... And without trying the pack caught up to Nijhuis by mile 4.
Running Away from the Field - Part 2
After mile 6, another man decided to run away from the field. Mohamed El Aaraby of Morocco took off and was joined by Eyob Faniel of Italy... As the field had done with Nijhuis, they ignored these two lesser known runners and continued at their own pace. As we've seen before, the main contenders in the field were focused on the favorite of the field and would follow his moves and it seemed clear that the main field was focused on Kenenisa Bekele. However, unlike Nijhuis, El Aaraby and Faniel were decent professional marathoners with personal best times at the marathon of 2:09:16 and 2:07:19 respectively. To let these two men get too far ahead might lead to a situation where the field could not catch them. By mile 14 El Aaraby and Faniel had nearly a minute lead on the field - anything could happen.
The Favorites Fall Back, Chasing Down the Leaders
By mile 15, Bekele and Nageeye were both lagging behind the main pack and Albert Korir, the runner-up from 2019, realized he should not be watching Bekele and he better chase down the two men in front. Korir picked up the pace and working together Kibiwott Kandie started to make up time on El Aaraby and Faniel and by mile 19 they had caught the leaders.
Korir Alone
For a short while, Korir, Kandie and Faniel moved forward together. Faniel was the first to fall back and by mile 20 Korir was running away on his own. His experience at the distance and experience in New York gave him an insurmountable advantage. Korir would continue to build his lead through the remainder of the run and finish with a win in 2:08:22, nearly 45 seconds ahead of the next finisher.
El Aaraby and Faniel
Most amazing is that El Aaraby and Faniel's audacity in running away from the main pack provided them with enough lead that they easily captured the second and third finisher spots. Mohamed El Aaraby, the man who first initiated the advance, stayed strong to finish as runner-up in a new personal best time of 2:09:06. Eyob Faniel, easily held on for third place in 2:09:52. Kandie, the half marathon record holder who was in third place at mile 20, faded horribly losing 4-1/2 minutes on the leaders to ultimately finish in ninth place in 2:13:43.
Top Finishers
1. Albert Korir (KEN) 2:08:22 - $100,000
2. Mohamed El Aaraby (MAR) 2:09:06 - $60,000
3. Eyob Faniel (ITA) 2:09:52 - $40,000
4. Elkanah Kibet (USA) 2:11:15 - $25,000 + $25,000
5. Abdi Nageeye (NED) 2:11:39 - $15,000
6. Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) 2:12:52 - $10,000
7. Ben True (USA) 2:12:53 - $7,500 + $15,000
8. Nathan Martin (USA) 2:12:57 - $5,000 + $10,000
9. Kibiwott Kandie (KEN) 2:13:43 - $2,500
10. Jared Ward (USA) 2:14:06 - $2,000 + $5,000
11. Patricio Castillo (MEX) 2:14:11
12. John Raneri (USA) 2:15:36 - $3,000
13. Akira Tomiyasu (JPN) 2:16:39
14. Shadrack Biwott (USA) 2:16:50
15. Thijs Nijhuis (DEN) 2:17:25
Coverage Homepage
Post Race:
Men's Post-Race |
Women's Post-Race
| Complete Searchable Results
Pre-Race:
Men:
Men's Preview & Starter List
Women:
Women's Preview & Starter List
Head-to-Heads: Elite Athlete Past Matchups
Extras:
Pace Calculator/Pace Guide/Viewing |
Videos (Athletes/Archival/More...)
More News:
Press Releases |
News (other sources)
Featured Book/Movie:
Run For Your Life |
A Race Like No Other
| 
