OBIRI, WILDSCHUTT EARN UNITED NYC HALF VICTORIES IN COLD CONDITIONS
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2026 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission.
NEW YORK (15-Mar) — Successfully fighting off both world class competitors and near-freezing temperatures, Kenya’s Hellen Obiri and South Africa’s Adriaan Wildschutt won the elite divisions of the 19th United New York City Half this morning. Obiri, 36, and Wildschutt, 27, covered the 21.1-kilometer course from Prospect Park in Brooklyn to Central Park in Manhattan in 1:06:33 and 59:30, respectively. Obiri’s time was a new event record, and this was the second time that she won the race. Wildschutt became the event’s first South African winner, and he is now just the third South African man to cross a finish line first in Central Park joining TCS New York City Marathon winners Hendrick Ramaala (2004) and Willie Mtolo (1992).
ELITE WOMEN HIT THE PACE HARD
Even with all of the advances in training women distance runners, a 4:47 first mile is shockingly fast for a half-marathon. That was the split recorded by reigning World Athletics cross country champion Agnes Ngetich of Kenya, who was taking on this race for the fist time. Only four other women –Obiri, her Kenyan compatriot Sharon Lokedi, Ethiopian Fentaye Belayneh, and Dutchwoman Diane Van Es– were brave enough to stay close to Ngetich. She split 5-K in 15:15, and Van Es was forced to drop back.
The leading four stayed together on the ascent of the Brooklyn Bridge which crosses the East River, but on the downslope into Manhattan (about 8-K), Ngetich upped the pace. Obiri stayed locked on Ngetich, but Lokedi and Belayneh drifted back. Lokedi, the race’s defending champion, took stock of the situation. She wanted to close the gap on the two leaders, but it was already too big.
“It started out quick, too-too quick,” a shivering Lokedi told reporters after the race. She continued: “I tried a little bit, but it wasn’t working out. I was like, at this point I just go with my own pace.”
Ngetich, with Obiri nearly touching her heels, went through 10-K in a sizzling 30:50. That put the Kenyan duo on pace for a 65-minute finish. But as Lokedi pointed out, the pace was too fast. Running north on the FDR Drive in Manhattan along the East River, Ngetich suddenly slowed. On the race’s local broadcast it seemed as though she had vanished. In fact, she was just too cold.
“Agnes suffered from hypothermia,” said her manager Davor Savija in a text message to Race Results Weekly. “Not sure why she opted to run without a beanie, arm warmers or gloves.”
By the 15-K point on East 42nd Street in Manhattan, Obiri had a 30-second lead on Ngetich, who now had to turn her attention to the three women who were close behind her: Lokedi, Belayneh, and Scotland’s Megan Keith. That trio was only six seconds back. Keith, who was running her first half-marathon, felt good. She had ignored the super-fast early pace and stayed with her race plan.
“I normally take quite a lot of risks in my racing, but I’m only used to racing between a mile and a 10-K on the track or cross country,” Keith told Race Results Weekly. “So I’m new to the roads, and then very new to the half-marathon. So me and my team decided that I had to be sensible.”
Meanwhile, Obiri continued to pound away. The two-time TCS New York City Marathon winner ran through Times Square alone, and up Seventh Avenue to Central Park. The three-time world champion had a 39-second lead by the 20-K point and only gave away two seconds to her rivals at the finish. Her time of 1:06:33 took 31 seconds off of Lokedi’s event record from last year. She will be running the London Marathon on April 26.
“For me it was an incredible moment,” said Obiri when asked about the point on the FDR Drive where she pulled away from Ngetich. “I told myself just to be patient and run my own race because I know the ladies are so strong.”
Obiri, who is a member of the On Athletics Club in Boulder, Colo., has now claimed four victories in New York City. In addition to winning the TCS New York City Marathon in 2023 and 2025 she has now won the half-marathon twice (2023 and 2026), and the Mastercard New York Mini 10-K (2025). She said she loves racing here.
“New York, it’s been my second home,” she said.
Lokedi, who is training to defend her Boston Marathon title, worked with Keith in the second half of the race. They caught the struggling Ngetich just past 15-K (47:27) and were still together in the Park at 20-K (1:03:41). Lokedi was able to get away from her British rival in the park to finish second in 1:07:10 (still faster than her event record), and Keith finished just three seconds behind (1:07:13). van Es held on to take fourth (1:08:21) in a sprint against Belayneh, who finished one second behind her. Sixth place went to USA marathon record-holder Emily Sisson who, like Lokedi, incorporated this race into her Boston Marathon build-up.
“I just came down from altitude like three or four days ago,” said Sisson, who now resides in Ireland but still does her high altitude work in Flagstaff, Arizona. “I honestly needed that. I felt really strong, but I think that this will really bring me on, which is good. I’m going to freshen up the next four weeks at sea level.”
Ngetich finished 13th in 1:10:25 and required medical attention. “She was treated in the medical tent and has bounced back after 30 minutes or so,” her manager reported. “Massive headache and closing of the chest followed by some vomiting. She is physically OK now.”
In all, five USA women finished in the top-10. Amanda Vestri was seventh in 1:09:22, Annie Frisbie eighth in 1:09:25, Susanna Sullivan ninth in 1:09:38 and Emily Venters tenth in 1:09:46.
WILDSCHUTT SURGES TO VICTORY
The men’s race played out very differently. Like the women, they were running fast, early (13:57 at 5-K and 27:56 at 10-K), but the lead pack was still 14-strong at 15-K (42:24). There were a number of small surges by Ireland’s Peter Lynch, Kenya’s Patrick Kiprop, and America’s Zouhair Talbi, but nothing stuck.
That is until about the 10-mile (16-K) mark on East 42nd Street in front of Grand Central Terminal. Lynch went to the front again and the pack began to break up. Grant Fisher, who was making his road racing and half-marathon debut, fell off the pace (he would finish 14th in 1:00:53). Wildschutt saw his chance.
“I talked to my coach yesterday, Jack Mullaney, and he was like if you want to win the race… you have to have the best last 5-K,” Wildschutt said. “I was biding my time and waiting… to make a big move and just see what was happening. So, I was able to separate myself from the pack and just keep pushing the pace.”
Wildschutt’s move stuck. He made the left turn into Central Park with an 11-second lead on Talbi, and that lead held all the way to the finish. His time was 13 seconds off of his personal best, but considering the difficulty of the New York course and the very cold weather, it was probably his best-ever half-marathon. He also liked following in Ramaala’s footsteps; the now 54 year-old won the New York City Marathon in 2004.
“First time running in New York, and coming into Central Park I was so happy; it was beautiful,” Wildschutt told reporters. He continued: “I was glad that, even years after the fact (when Ramaala won), I was able to put a good performance on.”
Talbi, who was active and near the front the entire race, took second in 59:41, his first sub-60:00 half-marathon. Shockingly, third place went to India’s Gulveer Singh, who ran 59:42 in his debut. The 27 year-old, who became the first Indian man to break sixty minutes for a half-marathon, said that he would be returning to the track to focus on the Commonwealth Games this summer. Singh, who is coached by Scott Simmons of the American Distance Project in Colorado Springs, planned to run both the 5000m and 10,000m.
As for Fisher, the two-time Olympic bronze medalist was disappointed despite running the third-fastest debut in race history behind only Olympic medalists Mo Farah of Great Britain (1:00:23, 2011) and Galen Rupp of the United States (1:00:30, 2011). Fisher said the fast downhills early in the race beat up his legs, and when the race broke up around the 10-mile mark he just had nothing left.
“That was hard, really, really hard,” said Fisher. “I was hoping my legs would be a little more resilient out there, but I think I wasn’t quite prepared for the pounding of the hills. The guys really surged on some of those downhills, and it beat-up my legs. By the time we got into Manhattan my legs were really tired.” He added: “I think I ran decently well, but those last few miles I was hurting coming home.”
Alex Maier (59:51), Peter Lynch (59:52), and Patrick Dever (59:56) finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. The three men are training partners in the Puma Elite Running group in North Carolina.
Defending champion Abel Kipchumba of Kenya was unable to finish. His last split was 43:43 at 15-K.
ROMANCHUK AND RAINBOW-COOPER ROLL AWAY WITH WHEELCHAIR TITLES
The wheelchair races were not close. On the men’s side Daniel Romanchuk built up a 47-second lead over his nearest rival by the 10-K mark, and that margin ballooned to two minutes and 12 seconds by the finish. Romanchuk, who was competing in his first race since enduring a bad crash at the Sydney Marathon last August, was clocked in 48:10.
“I really wasn’t sure six months ago whether I would ever be on a starting line again,” said Romanchuk, who dislocated and fractured his right shoulder in the crash. He added: “Thankful to God for the opportunity to race again.”
Rainbow-Cooper, a Scotswoman who took second at the Tokyo Marathon earlier this month, won by a massive six-minute margin over American Paralympic legend Tatyana McFadden. She was clocked in 54:27.
“It’s amazing to me,” said Rainbow-Cooper, who will race at both the Boston and London Marathons later this month. She continued: “Going into the Boston and London I just want to carry my momentum.”
AMERICA’S LARGEST HALF-MARATHON
Race founders and organizers New York Road Runners expected about 30,000 finishers today (official finisher counts were not yet available). Last year’s edition saw 28,677 runners cross the finish line, which was a race record. The race is now the largest half-marathon in the United States (for context, the world’s largest half-marathon is Hoka Semi-Marathon de Paris which had 49,244 finishers on March 8 of this year).
The next elite running event hosted by New York Road Runners will be the Mastercard New York Mini 10-K on Saturday, June 6. That event is the world’s oldest road race for women, founded in 1972.
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ENDS
