The 2026 TCS New York City Marathon has become the first marathon ever to exceed 60,000 finishers, with 61,146 runners completing the race on Sunday, 1 November 2026. New York Road Runners announced the figure on 2 November 2026, breaking the world record for the largest marathon for the third consecutive year.
A total of 61,529 runners started the race, and 61,146 finished, according to the organisers. Runners from 153 countries crossed the finish line in Central Park. The 2026 edition also marked the 50th anniversary of the five-borough course format, first introduced in 1976.
A debut winner and a defending champion
Sweden’s Andreas Almgren won the men’s open division in 2:06:01, winning a World Marathon Major on his debut at the distance. Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui claimed her second New York City Marathon title in the women’s race. Ryan Montgomery of the United States won the nonbinary division in 2:23:39, a new course record in that division.
British ultra-endurance athlete William Goodge also made headlines during the event, finishing in 4:05:01 as part of his effort to run a marathon in all 50 states in 23 days, breaking the record for the fastest person to do so.
Charity record too
New York Road Runners also broke its charity fundraising record, surpassing its 100 million dollar goal ahead of the race. The organisers noted that all finisher numbers and results were as of 1 November and subject to change after final race scoring verification, so the publisher should check the final tally before republishing the figure as absolute.
The 2024 edition set the world record, the 2025 edition broke it, and 2026 has now done it again. Three years in a row, the world’s largest marathon has grown larger still. The scale is hard to picture: 61,146 finishers is roughly the population of a small city crossing one finish line in a single day, after running through Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan. For the organisers, the record is also a logistical one, moving tens of thousands of runners, volunteers and spectators through five boroughs safely. For the runners, many of whom raise money for charity, the finish in Central Park remains the reward, whatever the final verified tally says.
