Sweden's Andreas Almgren won the 2026 TCS NYC Marathon in his debut, running 2:06:01 to beat Yemaneberhan Crippa by 13 seconds and defending champion Benson Kipruto.
Picture Credit : Reuters
Andreas Almgren won the 2026 TCS New York City Marathon men's elite race in 2:06:01 on Sunday morning, pulling away over the final 2 kilometres to beat Italy's Yemaneberhan Crippa by 13 seconds.
It was Almgren's marathon debut. He is the first Swede ever to win the men's New York City Marathon.
Defending champion Benson Kipruto, the Kenyan who won here in 2025 by less than a second over Alexander Mutiso, finished fourth. The East African stranglehold on the men's race just loosened in the loudest possible way.
For most American running fans the honest answer is: a few weeks ago, nobody. Inside track and field circles his name has been building for a long time.
Almgren is 31, born in Sweden on June 12, 1995. He came up through the middle distances, taking bronze in the 800 metres at the 2014 World Junior Championships. His 800 metre personal best is 1:45.59.
Marathon winners do not usually come from the 800 metres. They come from the 10,000 metres and the half marathon. Almgren spent the last three years moving down that road, and he picked up records on every surface along the way.
In 2025 alone, he set an unratified European record in the 5000 metres at 12:44.27, won the half marathon world title in Copenhagen, and took 10,000 metres bronze at the World Championships in Tokyo.
In 2026 before Sunday, he added European 10,000 metres gold in Birmingham with a championship record of 27:23.44, a Swedish and European record of 26:45 for 10 kilometres on the road in Valencia, and a half marathon in 58:06 at the Copenhagen World Championships. Both road marks are pending ratification.
A full timeline of his personal bests and championship medals lives on his World Athletics athlete profile page.
The lead pack stayed deep and intact for most of the morning. Through 30 kilometres a group of 13 men was still in contention, led by Kenya's Geoffrey Kamworor.
American Conner Mantz, who finished sixth in 2024, moved to the front at 35 kilometres and tried to break the race apart from there. It did not work on him. It did not work on anyone.
By 40 kilometres the group was down to a quartet: Almgren, Kipruto, Crippa and Kamohelo Mofolo of Lesotho.
They crossed 40K in 2:00:00 flat, with Almgren at the front for the first time all day.
That is where he went. Over the final 2.2 kilometres through Central Park, Almgren opened a gap on Crippa that stretched to 13 seconds by the line.
He crossed in 2:06:01, a 1:03 shy of Tamirat Tola's course record of 2:04:58. On a day when nobody threatened the record, Almgren still ran the eighth fastest New York time ever in his first marathon.
Men's World Marathon Majors podiums have been dominated by Kenya and Ethiopia for 20 years. A non East African man winning any WMM race is noteworthy.
A European man doing it in his debut is a seismic result.
The Netherlands' Abdi Nageeye won New York in 2024. Great Britain's Patrick Dever was upgraded to third in the 2025 race after a doping disqualification.
Now Sweden's Almgren takes the 2026 title and Italy's Crippa is second.
That is three straight editions of New York with a European man on the podium. The last time that happened in New York was over 20 years ago.
For reference, Tamirat Tola's 2:04:58 from 2023 remains the course record. New York is the slowest fast course in the WMM circuit. Five bridges, Fifth Avenue, the final loop in Central Park.
Our full breakdown of what makes New York uniquely punishing lives in our piece on why elite runners taper differently for New York than for Berlin or Chicago.
Almgren's debut time on this course projects to something considerably faster on a flat European course next spring. That is the number the sport will be waiting for.
Three Americans finished inside the top ten. Zouhair Talbi was sixth in 2:06:43. Ahmed Muhumed, in his marathon debut, finished seventh in 2:07:08. Ryan Ford placed tenth in 2:07:17.
American record holder Conner Mantz is not listed in the top ten of the official results posted so far. His front running at 35 kilometres cost him in the final mile.
For a mile by mile sense of what every one of those runners was navigating from the Verrazzano through to the finish, see our mile by mile mental script for the 2026 New York City Marathon.
Picture Credit : Reuters
1. Andreas Almgren, Sweden, 2:06:01
2. Yemaneberhan Crippa, Italy, 2:06:14
3. Kamohelo Mofolo, Lesotho, 2:06:26
4. Benson Kipruto, Kenya, 2:06:27
5. Haftu Strintzos, Australia, 2:06:34
6. Zouhair Talbi, USA, 2:06:43
7. Ahmed Muhumed, USA, 2:07:08
8. Geoffrey Kamworor, Kenya, 2:07:09
9. Ryota Kondo, Japan, 2:07:09
10. Ryan Ford, USA, 2:07:17
Three stories are now live.
First, Almgren has a Boston Marathon invitation he will not need to earn. Running 2:06 on New York as a debut is a Boston podium contender's audition. Expect him on the start line in Hopkinton in April 2027.
Second, Benson Kipruto's fourth place is his first finish outside the top three at a WMM in two years. The defending champion will have questions to answer about the taper and the final 10K.
Third, Crippa, Mofolo and Talbi have all put down 2:06 performances inside two seasons. The men's marathon field at this year's World Championships in Beijing next September is going to be the deepest it has ever been.
A Swedish former 800 metre runner just won the New York City Marathon on debut.
He out kicked the defending champion, the African record holder in the half marathon and the entire top of the Kenyan field over the final two kilometres.
The men's marathon's monoculture era just took a very public hit. Remember his name.
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