New York Marathon 2014: Final Results, Finishing Times and More
Kenyan runners Wilson Kipsang and Mary Keitany won the 2014 New York City Marathon, but the real winners were all the runners who somehow managed to survive brutal conditions on a blustery New York day to finish a grueling 26.2-mile race.
Kipsang ran his first-ever New York City Marathon and now has another title to add to his championships from Berlin and London. He finished with a time of 2 hours, 10 minutes, 59 seconds, but the most impressive part of his day was when he pulled away in the last mile to clinch the win.
Keitany won by three seconds, which was the narrowest margin in New York City Marathon history. Like Kipsang, Keitany clinched her victory at the end, which was quite a different approach than when she jumped out to a large lead in 2011 and faded at the end to finish in third place.
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As if winning a marathon wasn’t impressive enough, it was Keitany’s first 26.2-miler since 2012 thanks to the birth of her child.
In a testament to the hilly course that weaves over bridges and through New York City’s five boroughs and the weather conditions, Kipsang’s mark was the slowest winning time in New York since 1995 and more than seven minutes off his world record that he recently set in Berlin.
Among the other notable finishers were Geoffrey Mutai, who placed sixth and failed to become the first man to win three consecutive New York City Marathons since 1980-82, and Meb Keflezighi, who posted the best time for an American at 2:13:18. Keflezighi won the Boston Marathon this year.
Here is a look at some of the top finishers, courtesy of the event’s official website:
| 1 | Wilson Kipsang | 2:10:59 | Kenya |
| 2 | Lelisa Desisa Benti | 2:11:06 | Ethiopia |
| 3 | Gebre Gebremariam | 2:12:13 | Ethiopia |
| 4 | Meb Keflezighi | 2:13:18 | United States |
| 5 | Stephen Kiprotich | 2:13:25 | Uganda |
| 6 | Geoffrey Mutai | 2:13:44 | Kenya |
| 7 | Masato Imai | 2:14:36 | Japan |
| 8 | Peter Cheruiyot Kirui | 2:14:51 | Kenya |
| 9 | Ryan Vail | 2:15:08 | United States |
| 10 | Nick Arciniaga | 2:15:39 | United States |
| 1 | Mary Keitany | 2:25:07 | Kenya |
| 2 | Jemima Sumgong | 2:25:10 | Kenya |
| 3 | Sara Moreira | 2:26:00 | Portugal |
| 4 | Jelena Prokopcuka | 2:26:15 | Latvia |
| 5 | Desiree Linden | 2:28:11 | United States |
| 6 | Rkia El Moukim | 2:28:12 | Morocco |
| 7 | Firehiwot Dado | 2:28:36 | Ethiopia |
| 8 | Valeria Straneo | 2:29:24 | Italy |
| 9 | Buzunesh Deba | 2:31:40 | United States |
| 10 | Annie Bersagel | 2:33:02 | Norway |
Perhaps the biggest storyline outside of the actual finishers was the wintery weather.
Thanks to freezing temperatures and strong winds, the start of the wheelchair competition actually had to be moved from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island to Brooklyn so nobody blew over.
Buster Olney of ESPN seemed to have some level of appreciation for what the runners (and tens of thousands of spectators) were dealing with:
Another notable finisher was tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, who managed to run the course in less than 3:27:00 despite never attempting more than 13 miles in training. She commented on the entire experience, according to The Associated Press (via ESPN.com):
"The crowd was amazing. It was incredible. It was such an incredible experience. I'm so happy to have done this. I'm so proud. Now I have this medal. I can say that I've done the New York City Marathon. I've even done it at a cool time. So I'm really, really happy."
Fellow tennis star Serena Williams was waiting at the Central Park finish line to greet Wozniacki.
Wozniacki played well down the stretch of the tennis season, and it is only natural to wonder if the marathon training helped her game and if it will continue to do so moving forward.
She is one of the speedier players on tour, and improved endurance will prove beneficial during the grueling conditions of some of the summer tournaments. If nothing else, it is a testament to her overall athleticism that she managed to run a marathon in a respectable time while still managing a busy tennis schedule.
While Wozniacki left her mark, the day belonged to the champion Kenyan runners. Neither the weather nor the unforgiving pavement of the New York City streets could do anything to slow them down on Sunday.
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