Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

Hellen Obiri, the winner of the 2023 New York Marathon, attributed her success to learning from the mistakes she made in the 2022 edition.

In a highly competitive race against fellow Kenyan athletes, Obiri completed the challenging course, which traverses all five boroughs of New York City, in an impressive time of 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 23 seconds.

Hellen Obiri’s reflection

Reflecting on her victory, Obiri acknowledged that her second appearance in the New York Marathon was a marked improvement over her debut, which she described as terrible due to various mistakes she made. She emphasized the importance of learning from one’s errors and striving for improvement.

“It’s my honour to be here for the second time. My debut here was terrible for me. Sometimes you learn from your mistakes, so I did a lot of mistakes last year and I said I want to try to do my best (this year),” said Obiri.

“It was exciting for me to see Gidey was there. I said, this is like track again, like the World Championships in 2022 (when Gidey won the 10,000m ahead of Obiri).”

Obiri’s race was particularly thrilling as she sprinted ahead of Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey (2:27:29) in a captivating final stretch.

Hellen Obiri record

Notably, she became the first woman since 1989 to win both the Boston and New York City marathons in the same year, a feat last achieved by Norwegian athlete Ingrid Kristiansen.

Sharon Lokedi, the defending champion, secured third place with a finishing time of 2:27:33. The 2023 New York Marathon featured an exceptionally competitive field, making it one of the most star-studded women’s marathons in history.

Among the elite runners were former world record holder Brigid Kosgei (2:27:45) and Letesenbet Gidey, who had previously set the fastest debut marathon time. The women’s course record for the New York City Marathon remains 2:22:31, set by Kenyan athlete Margaret Okayo in 2003.

This race served as the sixth and final World Marathon Major of the year, concluding a busy fall season for the sport.