Jess McClain became the first American woman to reach the New York City Marathon podium in eight years, finishing second in 2:24:42 after outsprinting defending champion Hellen Obiri in the final metres of the race.
The 34-year-old from Scottsdale, Arizona, has been a fan favourite since her fourth-place finish at the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials. Speaking to ESPN after the race, she said she did not feel great through the first 18 miles, though the conservative early pace helped: the first half was covered in 1:13:52 by the lead group.
As the pack moved up Fifth Avenue, McClain was not alone in contention. Three other American women were also in the lead group: Weini Kelati, the American half marathon record holder making her marathon debut, Carrie Ellwood and Paige Wood.
The race broke open at mile 23, when eventual champion Sheila Chepkirui and Obiri, both of Kenya, opened a seven-second gap. McClain, running in her mint green Brooks kit, stayed visible behind them and ran 5:10 for the 25th mile. Crucially, she took the tangents through the curves of Central Park while the leaders held the middle of the road, adding distance. McClain said she concentrated on the tangents and her form over the last two miles, taking the shortest possible line, and noticed Obiri was not doing the same. "Every small percentage of anything helped in the last few miles," she said.
Chepkirui pulled clear in the final 200 metres to win by six seconds, and McClain passed Obiri with just feet remaining before the line. Obiri has three Olympic medals, including two silvers at 5,000 metres. McClain described feeling strong with 400 metres to go, saying she had visualised the closing stretch and moved through the final 200 metres.
Central Park is familiar ground for her. She raced the women's Mini 10K there in June and the Dash to the Finish Line 5K the day before the marathon, and she finished eighth in the New York City Marathon in 2024.
Behind her, Ellwood, 32, finished sixth in 2:26:28, Kelati, 29, was seventh in 2:26:51 and Wood, 30, was eighth in 2:27:29. Ellwood, who ran 2:22:53 at Boston in April, did not have a bio page in the race's media guide. Combining prize money for top-10 overall and top American finishes, McClain earned $85,000, with Ellwood taking $25,000 and Kelati $17,500. The last American woman on the New York podium was Shalane Flanagan, who was third in 2018 and won the race in 2017.
McClain's top-five finish qualifies her for the 2028 Olympic marathon, though she would still need a top-three place at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials to compete at the Los Angeles Games. She is roughly three years into a second stint in professional running, having graduated from Stanford in 2015 and joined the Brooks Beasts track club in Seattle before stepping away from the sport. She returned to Arizona during the pandemic and trained with local men, running a downhill marathon in 2022 and finishing fourth at Grandma's Marathon in Minnesota in 2023 before her Trials breakthrough in 2024.
She was eighth in the marathon at the 2025 World Championships and set her personal best of 2:20:49 at Boston in April. She also raced 31:15 for 10,000 metres in March, in the middle of her Boston training. In the week before the New York race, she practised the final 400 metres several times to get reacquainted with the uphill finish. "No matter where I am in the race, I'm going to hammer it home," she said. "It's not over till it's over."
Sources: Runner's World.