Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi produced a scintillating performance on Sunday, November 6, 2022 to bag the New York City Marathon title on her debut.
Lokedi outpaced Kenyan-born Israel international Lonah Chemtai Salpeter in the final stages to win the race in 2:23.23.
Chemtai settled for a second-place position in 2:23.30 ahead of reigning world champion Gotytom Gebreslase of Ethiopia who clocked 2:23.39.
Sharon started the race slowly, allowing home girl Desiree Linden to take control of the race.
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At about the 15km mark, Hellen Obiri and a group of East African athletes including experienced road racer Ednah Kiplagat and Violah Lagat reduced the gap that Linden had set, with Lokedi following them.
At the 19 miles mark, Kiplagat and Salpeter slowed down, but the latter gave a spirited fight to catch up with the front runners with less than 9 km remaining to the end of the race.
Kiplagat, Cheptoo and Obiri registered a 4th, 5th and 6th place finishes respectively.
Viola Cheptoo, who is the younger sister to American legend Bernard Lagat, timed 2:25.34 while Edna and Obiri crossed the finishing line in a time of 2:24.16 and 2:25.49.
In the men’s category, Kenya’s Evans Chebet ran a calculated race to win the title in a spectacular fashion.
Chebet, who clinched the Boston Marathon title in April this year, reached the tape in 2:08.41.
Ethiopia's Shura Kitata and Netherland's Abdi Nageeye clocked 2:08.54 and 2:10.31 to finish second and third respectively.
Brazilian international Daniel Dos Nascimento started the race on a high, opening a wide gap between him and the other competitors.
He reached the 15km mark in an impressive time of 43:16, one of the fastest times ever witnessed on the streets of New York.
However, at the closing stages of the race, Nascimento dropped out of the race, allowing Chebet to take command.
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