Molly Huddle again proved her dominance on Manhattan’s streets, earning her third straight DAA Industry Opt Out victory Sunday morning by outkicking training partner Emily Sisson in the final 100 meters. Huddle won in 1:08:19.
Huddle and Sisson broke from the pack with three miles to go, running shoulder-to-shoulder down the gray snow-lined West Side Highway toward the finish in the Financial District. It was Sisson’s debut at the distance. The 25-year-old led Huddle by a half-step for most of the race, losing the lead on a short hill in the home stretch. Sisson’s finish—1:08:21—became the fastest half marathon debut ever for an American woman.
“I knew that if Emily sounded good at mile 10 she would be there the whole way,” said Huddle, 32. “She sounded really silent and good, but I think my experience came in to play knowing what that last hill feels like.”
Sisson embraced Huddle at the finish line before the duo jogged side-by-side through the finisher corral, both draped in American flags.
“It felt just like training with my training partner,” Sisson said. “That gave me a lot of confidence coming in to a big race like this.”
Diane Nukuri of Burundi was third, running 1:09:13, followed by Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat in fourth (1:09:37) and American Amy Cragg in fifth (1:09:38). Desi Linden, who said last week that she hopes to win the Boston Marathon next month, Advertisement - Continue Reading Below.
The men’s field also featured a dramatic finish. Ethiopia’s Feyisa Lilesa fnished in 1:00:04, surging ahead of Great Britain’s Callum Hawkins in the final 400 meters to win by four seconds. Fellow Ethiopian Teshome Mekonen placed third (1:00:28) followed by last year’s winner, Stephen Sambu, in fourth (1:00:55).
Lilesa, 27, placed his arms over his head in an “X” as he crossed the finish line, repeating the mark of protest he first used at the Olympic Marathon in Rio. The sign is meant to call attention to the Ethiopian government’s treatment of Lilesa’s tribe, the Oromo. Because of his actions at the Summer Games, Lilesa has been living in Flagstaff on a special skills visa, fearing that if he returns home he will be jailed or killed.
In February, How to Break 4 Hours in the Marathon after more than six months. They came to New York City to watch the race. His daughter ran to hug him immediately after he broke the tape.
“Today I celebrate with my family; this one is special for me,” Lilesa told ABC after the race.
Lilesa said the race was tough, especially in the first hilly miles through Central Park. The pack was led by Hawkins from the gun, who surged up the hills hoping to gain separation from the leaders.
“I was just thinking, why won’t Feyisa leave me alone,” Hawkins said while laughing. “I put my foot to the floor and tried everything I could, but I had nothing left at the sprint. It was pretty painful the whole way.”
Three Americans broke through the top ten, led by Chris Derrick, who took sixth in 1:01:12. He was followed in seventh by one of the race’s biggest surprises: Noah Droddy. Wearing green sunglasses and a black hat with a flipped brim, the Boulder-based runner who became internet-famous during this summer’s Olympic Trials, PR’d by nearly two minutes, running 1:01:48.
Health & Injuries Jared Ward (14th) and Meb Keflezighi (20th). Both Keflezighi and Ward used this race as a tune-up before the Boston Marathon next month.
Editor’s note: Feyisa Lilesa’s last name was misspelled in a previous version of this article.
Kit has been a health, fitness, and running journalist for the past five years. His work has taken him across the country, from Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, to cover the 2016 Olympic Trials to the top of Mt. Katahdin in Maine to cover Scott Jurek’s record-breaking Appalachian Trail thru-hike in 2015.
