I'm So Proud of Joyciline Jepkosgei, Who Won the New York City Marathon With the Fastest Debut Time Ever

Joyciline Jepkosgei, of Kenya, won the New York City Marathon on Sunday! Jepkosgei ran the course through the five boroughs (26.2 miles, phew) in 2 hours 22 minutes 38 seconds, according to The New York Times. I’m so proud of her!

This was Jepkosgei’s first major marathon, but she is the world record holder for the half marathon. Jepkosgei’s (and everyone’s really) biggest competitor was Mary Keitany. Keitany has won the marathon five times, including 2018.

This one part of the Times interview jumped out:

“I knew Mary had more experience in marathon, so I was trying to push,” Jepkosgei said. She added that she was looking back during the past few miles to see if her opponent would catch up.

We love a competitive woman. As someone who runs a 5K in 35 minutes and wants to lay down for two hours, Jepkosgei is such an inspiration. I will never run a marathon, but it’s cool to see a woman owning the competitive edge of a largely solitary sport.

Keitany finished second at 2 hours, 23 minutes, 32 seconds, and Ruti Aga of Ethiopia finished in 2 hours, 25 minutes, 51 seconds, according to USA Today. The top American was Desiree Linden. Linden finished at 2 hours, 26 minutes, 46 seconds in 6th place, USA Today reported.