NYRR Media Center

Abel Kipchumba, the two-time defending United Airlines NYC Half champion, will look to achieve the first men’s open division three-peat in event history. Last year, he broke the event record, and most recently, he placed 14th at his second TCS New York City Marathon in November, crossing the line in 2:11:06. Heading into the marathon, he placed third at the Great North Run in September.

Kipchumba won the 2021 Valencia Half Marathon and finished fifth at the 2022 Berlin Marathon after sustaining a stress fracture of his patella during the race. In 2023, he won the BAA Half Marathon, where he broke away from the rest of the field with 5K to go. He owns the fastest half marathon time in the field and is the 10th-fastest half marathoner of all time.

Kipchumba is married and spent two months living in San Diego in 2019 to help develop the first iteration of his sponsor’s super shoe. His upright, arched-back running style is a result of his previous job carrying 200-pound sacks of maize.