Nike and Adidas took the top positions in the shoe rankings from the 2026 New York City Marathon, although the top 10 results showed broad representation across eight brands. The race also featured notable performances from debutant Andreas Almgren, the first European man to win the event in 30 years, and Jess McClain, who sprinted past Hellen Obiri for second place overall.

Among the men, Almgren won in 2:06:01 wearing Nike’s Apex. The $360 racing shoe is not expected to be available until January 2027 and uses two Air units under the forefoot with a zero-drop design. Nike is positioning it as an elite marathon model, distinct from the Alphafly 4, which is intended for a wider group of marathon racers.

Yemaneberhan Crippa finished second in 2:06:14 in On’s LightSpray Cloudboom Strike 2. Kamohelo Mofolo placed third for Xtep in the 160X 8.0 Pro, recording 2:06:26. Benson Kipruto was fourth in Adidas’s Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, while Haftu Strintzos and Zouhair Talbi took fifth and sixth in the Asics Metaspeed Ray.

The rest of the men’s top 10 included Hoka’s DEV-1187090 prototype, worn by Ahmed Muhumed; Geoffrey Kamworor in the Nike Alphafly 3; Ryota Kondo in the Asics Metaspeed Sky Tokyo; and Ryan Ford in another pair of On LightSpray Cloudboom Strike 2 shoes.

The women’s race was won by Sheila Chepkirui in the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, with a time of 2:24:36. Chepkirui, the 2024 champion, held off defending 2025 winner Hellen Obiri and continued the model’s strong record in World Marathon Major races.

Jessica McClain finished second in 2:24:42 wearing a Brooks Hyperion Elite 7 prototype. Brooks has two development models listed by World Athletics, but it was not confirmed which version McClain used. The company had indicated that she planned to race in a prototype designed to resemble the commercially available Hyperion Elite 6.

Obiri placed third in the On LightSpray Cloudboom Strike 2, one second behind McClain. Edna Kiplagat finished fourth in Puma’s Fast-R Nitro Elite 3, followed by Mercy Chelangat in the Hoka Cielo X1 3.0 and Carrie Ellwood in the Asics Metaspeed Edge Tokyo.

The women’s top 10 also included Weini Kelati in the Nike Apex, Paige Wood in the Hoka Rocket X 3, Viola Cheptoo in the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 and Fabienne Königstein in the Puma Fast-R Nitro Elite 3. The results underline the variety of racing shoes used by the leading competitors, despite the overall victories for Nike and Adidas.

Sources: Runner's World.