Tamirat Tola's 2:04:58 course record survived another year in near perfect weather. The reason is the course itself, not the forecast. Here is why NYC runs slower than Berlin.
The 2026 TCS New York City Marathon unfolded on Sunday morning under conditions most elite coaches would describe as near ideal.
The temperature at the Verrazzano start was 48 degrees Fahrenheit.
The wind was barely registering at 2 to 5 miles per hour. The chance of rain was 1 percent.
Those are Berlin numbers. Those are Chicago numbers.
On a flat course they tend to produce personal bests up and down the elite field, and often a world record attempt at the top.
Andreas Almgren still won the men's race in 2:06:01.
That is 1:03 slower than Tamirat Tola's course record of 2:04:58 set in 2023. Sheila Chepkirui won the women's race in 2:24:36, nearly five minutes off Hellen Obiri's course record of 2:19:51 from 2025.
The weather is not the reason. The course is.
The New York City Marathon course has roughly 820 feet of total elevation gain across its 26.2 miles.
By comparison, Berlin has around 170 feet. Chicago has roughly 100.
New York runners climb a bridge in the first mile.
They climb across the Pulaski. They climb the Queensboro at Mile 15 without a crowd.
They climb Fifth Avenue from Mile 22 into Central Park. The entire final mile tilts upward just as the glycogen runs out.
None of those climbs is enormous on its own.
Added together they drain the final 10K, which is where course records are made or lost.
New York is also a point to point course, which under current World Athletics rules disqualifies it from counting for records regardless of time.
The same rule applies to Boston. Both races can produce legendary performances but neither can produce a world record.
That is why even when conditions are perfect, elite athletes do not come to New York chasing a time.
They come chasing a position. We dug into exactly how the pros adjust their build for this specific course in our piece on why elite runners taper differently for New York than for Berlin or Chicago.
The sweet spot for marathon performance sits between 46 and 54 degrees Fahrenheit, with low humidity and minimal wind. Sunday morning sat precisely inside that window.
For an elite runner, every degree above 60 Fahrenheit shaves roughly 0.4 to 0.6 percent off expected finish time. Humidity above 70 percent compounds that.
Headwind over 10 mph can cost up to one and a half minutes across the full distance.
Yesterday had none of those penalties.
Which is why the podium was deep and the pack stayed together to 40K. Nineteen men were within 90 seconds of the winner.
Fourteen women were within 2 minutes.
What good weather produces on a hard course is depth, not record speed.
The top ten men were separated by 1:16. Three Americans finished inside the top ten. Six nations were represented across the top five.
That is unusual for New York. It is the signature of weather that let everybody run their race rather than survive it.
The official 2026 NYRR results show the full depth of the field for anyone looking to break the numbers down by nationality or age group.
For the men's record to go, a runner with a sub 2:03 personal best would need to arrive in peak form on a day like this one, and go on the attack early.
Tola went to the front at Mile 7 in 2023 and never looked back. That is the template.
The women's course record is a different story.
Hellen Obiri's 2:19:51 in 2025 came in equally good weather and is probably the ceiling for the course as it currently exists.
The next real shot at either record will come when a world marathon major athlete decides to use New York as a season closer rather than a shape of life race.
That might be 2027. It might be later.
Elite pacing on New York has lessons for everyday marathoners.
The runners who posted their personal bests on Sunday were almost all runners who held back on the Verrazzano, held back on the Pulaski, and spent what they had on First Avenue and Fifth Avenue.
For a sense of the mental model that supports that kind of pacing, see our mile by mile mental script for the 2026 New York City Marathon.
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You cannot wish away bridges, Fifth Avenue, or 820 feet of climbing with good weather.
New York will keep producing deep fields and tight finishes rather than record books, until an athlete decides to try to break the pattern.
The 2026 winning time was slower than you might have expected.
The racing was not.
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