‘I want to run 2:18 course record,’ says Obiri ahead of her New York Marathon title defense

Kenya’s two-time World 5000m champion, Helen Obiri is promising a new course record as she seeks to retain her New York marathon title on Sunday.

Obiri, 34, ran 2:27:23 to win her first New York City marathon last November and has ran 2:23:10 to win the bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Four months earlier, the Kenyan won the Boston Marathon (2:22:37) and says she is ready to smash the 2:22:31 course record set by her country woman, Margaret Okayo to win her second title in 2003, two years after winning in New York for the first time.

‘I want to run 2:18 – course record, she told CITIUS MAG at the pre-race presser.

Obiri may feel confident she is capable of running inside 2:20 this year but she is not coming to New York as the fastest woman in the race and the fastest this year among the women’s elite field.

Her first major obstacle is her country woman, Sheila Chepkirui who is fastest with the 2:17:29 she ran in Valencia two years ago and has done a 2:19:31 this year to place sixth in London in April.

Obiri will also two accomplished distance runners, Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba and Kenyan, Vivian Cheruiyot, who are making a return to the spotlight again’

Dibaba, the five-time World champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist holds a lifetime of 2:17:56 she ran in London in 2017 and ran 2:18:55 in Berlin, Germany the following year.

That was the last time the 39 year old raced in the 42.195km race. This year, she ran 31:04 over the 10km.

Cheruiyot, 41, the four-time World champion and 2016 Olympic champion has been more active on the road than Dibaba and has completed a marathon race this year, running 2:21:46 to place third at the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris in Paris, France.