NEW YORK (Reuters) - Kenyans Evans Chebet and Sharon Lokedi survived brutal heat and humidity to win the New York City Marathons on Sunday after Brazilian Daniel Do Nascimento collapsed during the race.
Do Nascimento set a blistering pace with a roughly two-minute lead around the halfway point but after mile 20 staggered forward and collapsed, stunning onlookers as police officers ran to assist him. Race officials later said he was okay and had not been taken to hospital.
Chebet, who won in Boston this year, had accelerated around mile 15 and overcame obvious fatigue to produce a final surge to cross the finish in two hours eight minutes 41 seconds, crumpling to the ground and rolling on to his back.
Ethiopian Shura Kitata finished second in 2:08:54 and Dutchman Abdi Nageeye took third.
His win completes a Kenyan sweep of the six men’s world marathon majors in 2022.
Lokedi, making her marathon debut, stayed with the leading pack before pulling away in the final stages to win in 2:23:23.
The year’s final marathon major was back at full capacity for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, with some 50,000 competitors hitting the streets and thousands of people congregating along the course to cheer.
The normally crisp and mild New York autumn conditions were replaced by heat hovering around 22.2 Celsius, among the hottest conditions in the race’s history.