World champion Ethiopian Gotytom Gebreselase, Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir and world cross-country champion Hellen Obiri will toe the line at the TCS New York City Marathon, a World Athletics Elite Platinum Label road race, on 6 November.
Jepchirchir’s fellow defending champion Albert Korir is one of the headline names in the men’s race. The Kenyan will take on Boston Marathon champion Evans Chebet, 2020 London Marathon champion Shura Kitata and Olympic silver medalist Abdi Nageeye.
Gotytom, the 2021 Berlin Marathon champion, struck gold in the marathon at the recent World Championships, smashing the championship record with 2:18:11.
Last year, Jepchirchir won the Olympic marathon by 16 seconds, and then four months later won the New York City Marathon in 2:22:39, just eight seconds off the course record. Then in April, in a back-and-forth race that came down to the final mile, Jepchrichir fended off Ethiopian Ababel Yeshaneh in a thrilling sprint to the finish to take the Boston Marathon title.
Obiri, a two-time world champion over 5000m, will be making her marathon debut. The double Olympic silver medalist set a half marathon PB of 1:04:22 earlier this year and went on to claim silver over 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
Two-time world marathon champion Edna Kiplagat, Israel’s world marathon bronze medalist Lonah Salpeter and Ethiopia’s 2015 world 5000m silver medalist Senbere Teferi are also in the line-up, as is USA’s Sara Hall and Britain’s Jess Piasecki.