Korir wins NYC Marathon; Djokovic wins 37th Masters title
Albert Korir of Kenya won the New York City Marathon men’s race Sunday, two years after coming in second.
Korir overtook Morocco’s Mohamed El Aaraby and Italy’s Eyob Faniel around the 18th mile and quickly took the drama out of the race’s 50th running. He won in an unofficial time of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 22 seconds.
In the women’s race, Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya pulled away at the entrance to Central Park and became the first woman to win a marathon major in the fall after winning an Olympic gold medal.
The second oldest of the world’s marathon majors returned Sunday after canceling in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The field was cut by about 40% to around 30,000 runners, with efforts made to maintain distance between competitors near the start and finish lines.
It was Korir’s first victory in one of the World Marathon Majors and his first time atop any podium since winning the Ottawa Race Weekend Marathon in 2019.
The 27-year-old Korir finished second to Geoffrey Kamworor in 2019 by 23 seconds.
Korir and fellow Kenyan Kibwott Kandie were side by side as they passed El Aaraby and Faniel, but Kandie — the world record holder in the half marathon — fell off in his marathon debut.
El Aaraby held on for an improbable second-place finish after coming in 11th at the Tokyo Olympics. Faniel was third.
Jepchirchir broke away from countrywoman Viola Cheptoo and Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh in the final mile of the race after the trio ran side by side from the Bronx back down through Manhattan.
Jepchirchir, 28, took gold at the Tokyo Olympics
marathon in August and came back on a short recovery to win a race once dominated by her hero Mary Keitany, a four-time winner in New York who recently retired from the sport.
Jepchirchir’s unofficial time Sunday was 2 hours, 22 minutes, 39 seconds.
ETC.
College football: Florida Memorial (2-8, 1-4 Mid-South Conference Sun Division) scored 20 unanswered
points in the fourth quarter Saturday, capitalizing on two turnovers —including a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown by Darius Conley —to rally for a 34-31 victory over visiting Webber International University .
Tennis: The day after ensuring he finishes No. 1 for a record seventh year, Novak Djokovic beat No. 2 Daniil Medvedev 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the Paris Masters final for a record 37th Masters title. Djokovic moved one clear of fellow 20-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal for Masters trophies, and nine ahead of Roger Federer, the other tennis great with 20 majors. It also gave Djokovic a record-extending sixth Paris Masters title and put him 6-4 up overall against the No. 2-ranked Medvedev. The veteran Serb had lost to Medvedev in straight sets in the U.S. Open final two months ago and had not played a tournament since.
Horse racing: Knicks Go burst into the lead out of the starting gate and earned a 2 3⁄4-length victory in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic late Saturday at Del Mar, California. No one seriously pressed the colt, who earned his fourth straight victory and solidified a bid to win the Eclipse Award as Horse of the
Year.
Boxing: With a destructive barrage of power punches in the waning minutes of a difficult fight, Canelo Alvarez added another achievement to his overflowing list of boxing accomplishments. The Mexican pound-for-pound superstar is the undisputed super middleweight champion of the world. Alvarez became the first four-belt world champion at 168 pounds in boxing history Saturday night in Las Vegas, stopping Caleb Plant in the 11th with two dramatic knockdowns. Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) added Plant’s IBF title to his own WBC, WBA and WBO belts. Plant is now 21-1.
Auto racing: Max Verstappen won the Mexico City Grand Prix with a dominant race to stretch his season championship lead over Mercedes driver
Lewis Hamilton. Teammate Sergio Perez was the first Mexican driver in race history to not just lead the race, but also to earn a podium when he finished third. The result pulled Red Bull nearly even with Mercedes in a team championship worth millions of dollars at the end of season.