Mary Keitany of Kenya and Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia won the New York City Marathon on Sunday, with Keitany dominating the strong women's field for her fourth victory in the event and Desisa surging ahead of two other runners near the finish line.
Desisa held off countryman Shura Kitata by 1.99 seconds for his first win in New York, joining victories at the Boston Marathon in 2013 and 2015. He finished second in New York in 2014 and third in 2015 and 2017.
Desisa, 28, finished in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 59 seconds, the second-fastest time for the course in history. Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya set the record of 2:05:05 in 2011.
"This is my dream," Desisa said. "To be a champion."
Last year's winner, Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya, finished third.
"I'm pretty happy to finish on the podium," Kamworor said. "I came out the best that I could in the race. I tried my best, and I'm happy to be third."
Keitany became the second woman to win the marathon four times. She ran the race in 2:22:48, the second-fastest time for the course in history. Margaret Okayo of Kenya set the record of 2:22:31 in 2003.
Keitany, 36, won in 2014, 2015 and 2016 before coming in second last year behind American Shalane Flanagan. She joined Grete Waitz, who won the marathon nine times between 1978 and 1988, as the only women to win the marathon four times.
"I can say the course record was not in my mind," Keitany said. "For me, winning was very important."
Keitany pulled away at the 19-mile mark and held a 1:27.83 lead at the 21-mile mark. From that point, the question was not whether Keitany would win. Rather, it was by how much. She beat countrywoman Vivian Cheruiyot by 3:13.
Flanagan finished third.
"You have to find motivation, things to focus on," Flanagan said. "When I finally got to third place, I got another level of excitement because I was fighting."
Flanagan had contemplated retirement after her New York City win and a tough race at the Boston Marathon. On Sunday, she didn't commit to a decision but implied she could end her professional running career.
"I think I'm going to take a few hours postrace to decompress and really evaluate, so I don't want to be too soon to make a decision, but I do feel like my heart is leaning toward serving others in the knowledge that I've gained," she said.
The United States had four women finish in the top 10: Molly Huddle was fourth, Desiree Linden was sixth, and Allie Kieffer was seventh.
Four American men also finished in the top 10: Jared Ward was sixth, Scott Fauble was seventh, Shadrack Biwott was ninth, and Chris Derrick was 10th.
Daniel Romanchuk became the first American to win the men's wheelchair division, with a time of 1:36:21. Romanchuk finished 1.15 seconds ahead of Switzerland's Marcel Hug. David Weir of Britain, American Aaron Pike and Australian Kurt Fearnley rounded out the top five.
"I need air, and I'm in pain," said Romanchuk, 20, from Champaign, Illinois, who won the Chicago Marathon last month. "It's wonderful to be able to win my two Abbott major marathons on American soil. It's an amazing experience."
Manuela Schar of Switzerland repeated as the winner of the women's wheelchair division. Schar, who also won the Berlin and Chicago marathons, finished with a time of 1:50:27. American Tatyana McFadden finished second with a time of 1:50:48. Lihong Zou of China came in third. Eliza Ault-Connell of Australia and Margriet Van Den Broek of the Netherlands finished fourth and fifth.
"New York is always a really tough one for me because of the course," Schar said. "I'm not really a good climber, so I always have to work really hard in the flat part. Yeah, [I] tried to make that ground that I lose in the hills. I'm always a bit more nervous before New York than before the other races."
Retired NFL running back Tiki Barber finished the race in 4:44:47. He has run the marathon every year since 2014, with his best time being 4:28:26 in 2016. Actress Teri Hatcher recorded a time of 5:51:21 in her second marathon. In 2014, she compiled a time of 5:06:42.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.