Andreas Almgren came to watch the New York City Marathon a year ago and decided that night he was going to make his debut in the event this year. It turned out to be a great choice. The Swedish half-marathon star won his debut in the 26.2-mile distance Sunday, running the third-fastest time in race history. He finished in 2 hours, 6 minutes and 1 second. That was 13 seconds faster than the second-place finisher Yemaneberhan Crippa of Italy, who also was making his New York debut. Almgren had a record-setting 2025, winning the Valencia Half Marathon in 58:41

Andreas Almgren of Sweden finishes first in his marathon debut, taking the New York City Marathon.

Fifty years ago, the New York City Marathon ran through all five boroughs of the city for the first time. There were just over 2,000 competitors in that seventh running of the race, including only 88 women. Now about 60,000 runners will step up to the starting line Sunday with nearly half of them women. Bill Rodgers, a year after winning the Boston Marathon for the first time, won in the debut of the five-borough course and is the only man to win the event four times, from 1976-79. Rodgers says “it was so different as we were used to running in Central Park.”