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2017 TCS New York City Marathon Men's Preview and Starter List
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photo: Victah Sailer / PhotoRun
Ghirmay Ghebreslassie Will Seek To Defend
His New York City Marathon Title
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Past Champions
The New York City Marathon elite field is typically filled with past champions of the race and the 2017 event will be no different. In the field will be three past champions: Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, the 2016 champion; Wilson Kipsang, the 2014 champion; and Meb Keflezighi, the 2009 champion. Each of these men will be trying to prove something different: Ghirmay Ghebreslassie was the youngest in the elite field when he became the youngest ever NYC Marathon winner at age 20. Now 21, Ghebreslassie will try to provie that his win at such a young age was not a fluke and that he is primed for a long career. Wilson Kipsang set the then-world record in 2013 in Berlin (2:03:23), the year before the New York City Marathon. Kipsang will be returning to New York one year after he again bettered his time in Berlin (2:03:13, the 4th fastest marathon of all time), setting him up for a great chance at repeating the win. Meb Keflezighi - arguably the greatest American marathoner ever and also the only man to have won the New York City Marathon, Boston Marathon and medalled at the Olympics - is running his final marathon. Keflezighi will not be chasing the win, but he does want to make his final marathon something memorable.
Other Sub-2:05 Marathons
Other than Wilson Kipsang, two other men in the 2017 field have run faster than 2:05 for the marathon - which means they can never be ruled out. Lemi Berhanu was the runner-up at the 2:016 Dubai Marathon with a time of 2:04:33 (a year after winning that race in 2:05:28). Lelisa Desisa also ran his sub-2:05 marathon at Dubai (winning the race in 2013). Desisa has also won the Boston Marathon and been third and runner-up at the New York City Marathon, so he will hope to improve on that performance.
photo: John Elliott / MarathonGuide.com
Meb Keflezighi will run his final marathon at the 2017 NYC Marathon
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The Americans
As already mentioned, Meb Keflezighi is the fan favorite: winning a Silver Medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, was the 2009 New York City Marathon champion and also the 2014 Boston Marathon winner. That alone would be impressive, but Meb ran his first marathon at the New York City Marathon and has run the NYC Marathon a total of 10 times (this will be his 11th time at the NYC Marathon). Because of his history with New York, his age - 42 - Keflezighi decided his 26th marathon should be at New York and it will be his final competitive marathon race. Hopefully he will end on a high note.
Abdi Abdirahman has represented the USA at the 10000m or Marathon at the Olympic Games since 2000 and has been near the top of his racing since then. In 2016 he finished third at the NYC Marathon - but admittedly the field was not extremely strong in 2016... Abdi, at 40 years old is reaching the end of his career, but remains a fan favorite.
Two other Americans stand out in the field and are part of the upcoming American squad. Jared Ward finished third at the Olympic Trials Marathon and then improved his time and set his personal best of 2:11:30 at the 2016 Olympics. Shadrack Biwott has run his best marathons in the last 12 months, finishing fifth at the 2016 NYC Marathon and then fourth at the 2017 Boston Marathon. Biwott has recently begun training with the Hansons Group and we look forward to seeing how that affects his running.
| Male Elite Athletes |
| Athlete | Country | Personal Best | NYC |
| Wilson Kipsang (35) | KEN | 2:03:13, Berlin, 2016 | History |
| Lemi Berhanu (23) | ETH | 2:04:33, Dubai, 2016 | History |
| Lelisa Desisa (27) | ETH | 2:04:45, Dubai, 2013 | History |
| Geoffrey Kamworor (24) | KEN | 2:06:12, Berlin, 2012 | History |
| Tadesse Abraham (35) | SUI | 2:06:40, Seoul, 2016 | History |
| Lucas Rotich | KEN | 2:07:17, Hamburg, 2015 | History |
| Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (21) | ERI | 2:07:46, London, 2016 | History |
| Meb Keflezighi (42) | USA | 2:08:37, Boston, 2014 | History |
| Abdi Abdirahman (40) | USA | 2:08:56, Chicago, 2006 | History |
| Michel Butter (32) | NED | 2:16:38, Boston, 2012 | History |
| Koen Naert (28) | BEL | 2:10:16, Rotterdam, 2017 | History |
| Jared Ward (29) | USA | 2:11:30, Rio de Janeiro Olympics, 2016 | History |
| Shadrack Biwott (32) | USA | 2:12:01, New York City, 2016 | History |
| Musa Babo (28) | ETH | 2:13:26 | History |
| Byron Piedra (34) | ECU | 2:14:12 | History |
| Christo Landry | USA | 2:14:30, Chicago, 2014 | History |
| Brendan Martin (28) | USA | 2:15:30, Duluth, 2015 | History |
| Harbert Okuti (32) | UGA | 2:17:30, Sacramento, 2014 | History |
| Michael Wardian (42) | USA | 2:17:49, Duluth, 2011 | History |
| Fredrik Uhrbom (40) | SWE | 2:21:44 | History |
| Jorge Maravilla (40) | USA | 2:21:57, Gold Coast, 2016 | History |
| Tanner Fruit (29) | USA | Debut | History |
| Francesco Puppi (25) | ITA | Debut | History |
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