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As recently as mid-September, Aliphine Tuliamuk was in a boot and on crutches, wondering if she’d even be able to line up this year’s New York City Marathon.
But thanks to some chiropractic work and a few more weeks of intense training, Tuliamuk, 33, overcame swelling around her medial malleolus bone, and prevailed. She not only started, she crossed the finish line in 2:26:18, seventh place overall and first American. She takes home $32,500 for her efforts—$25,000 for leading the U.S. contingent and $7,500 for her open-division finish.
Emma Bates, 30, took eighth place overall in 2:26:53; Nell Rojas was 10th and third American in 2:28:32.
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The strong finish comes in Tuliamuk’s third appearance in the NYC race—but the first time she’s completed 26.2 miles since winning the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials. She took the unanticipated year between the Trials and the Olympics to have a baby; after working her way back into training postpartum, she dropped out of the Olympic Marathon in Sapporo after the 12-mile mark, with a hip injury.
Today’s steamy conditions—the temperature was 72 degrees, with 79 percent humidity at the start—kept paces relatively conservative. A large lead pack covered the first 10K in 34:25, a 5:32 pace.
Before the race, Olympian and 2018 Boston Marathon champion Des Linden, 39, told Runner’s World that she didn’t want to let the pace lag in the first half. That would only play to the strengths of the faster women in the field. She kept it honest through Brooklyn and Queens and over the 59th Street bridge, taking the lead and covering the seventh mile in a brisk 5:20.
But slightly more than nine miles in, the pack—led by Tuliamuk—reeled Linden back in. Tuliamuk—along with her HOKA NAZ Elite teammate Stephanie Bruce and Boulder-based Lindsay Flanagan—then stayed with the leaders through the halfway mark, hitting that point in 1:12:18.
Midway across the Queensboro Bridge, however, Bruce and Flanagan dropped off, leaving Tuliamuk the lone American in a pack of eight. She remained with the leaders until just past mile 18, when Viola Cheptoo, Hellen Obiri, and Gotytom Gebreslase broke away.
Meanwhile—much as she did when she finished second on a hot, humid day in Chicago last year—Bates, 30 stayed patient at first, then stayed consistent to work her way back up through the field.
Bates dropped back from the lead pack between 10K and 15K, and hit the halfway mark in 1:12:37, about 20 seconds back from the leaders. Between 18 miles and 20 miles, she passed both Bruce and Flanagan, and sat a minute and 9 seconds behind Tuliamuk. In the next 2 miles, she edged past Rojas.
In fact, Bates covered the final 10K in 35:33, a 5:43 pace—compared with 36:07 for Tuliamuk and 38:00 for Rojas. In the end, she crossed the line just 34 seconds behind Tuliamuk. The finish earns Bates a total of $20,000—$15,000 for placing second in the American field and $5,000 for 8th overall.
Rojas, 34, lined up this year in a new kit—in late October, she announced she had signed a sponsorship deal with Nike. (She’d briefly run for Adidas, but parted ways with them when the shoes didn’t work for her.) She’s twice placed first American in the Boston Marathon. Her 10th-place, third American finish in her first NYC Marathon appearance nets her $12,000 in prize money.
Like she did in Boston this year, Rojas also used her race to raise funds—this time, for the Running Industry Diversity Coalition, which aims to create space for black, indigenous, and people of color in the sport.
Flanagan finished fourth American—worth $5,000—and 11th overall in 2:29:28. Bruce, 38 and running the final marathon of her professional career, took 13th and fifth American in 2:30:34 (earning $3,000 in prize money). In her fourth marathon this year, former American record holder Keira D’Amato placed 15th and sixth American in 2:31:31; Linden was about a minute behind her, running 2:32:37 for 16th place.
Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013. She’s the coauthor of both Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart and Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries, a book about the psychology of sports injury from Bloomsbury Sport. Cindy specializes in covering injury prevention and recovery, everyday athletes accomplishing extraordinary things, and the active community in her beloved Chicago, where winter forges deep bonds between those brave enough to train through it.
