Hellen Obiri misses Ksh6.4m Marathon Majors windfall by just one point as Benson Kipruto claims men’s prize

Hellen Obiri’s second place finish at the Marathon on Sunday came at a major cost as it also denied her an extra Ksh6.4 million from the World .

Obiri failed to defend her title in, finishing second behind Kenyan compatriot Sheila and with it, the $50,000 (Ksh6.4 million) World Marathon Majors prize slipped out of her hands.

What is more heartbreaking for Obiri is that she lost it by just one point, having come second again last year when she was tied on points with Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands when the Ethiopian-born runner beat her for posting better times.

Sheila Chepkirui and Abdi Nageeye claimed victory in the edition of the 2024 New York City Marathon.

Heading to , Obiri was chasing two birds, she needed a win to retain her title while victory would also have earned her the World Marathon Majors prize.

Obiri had been second on the women’s leaderboard with 34 points thanks to her victory in Boston and third place at the Paris Olympics as Ethiopia’s Sutume Asefa Kebede was top on 41 points.

She therefore needed to win in New York to get the maximum 25 points, that would have taken her tally to 59, but she fell short and accumulated 16 points instead, which comes with second place, taking her to 40 in the final arithmetic, just one shy of the Ethiopian.

Hellen Obiri has recalled the moments she had doubts about her athletics career and revealed how her Kisii roots played a huge role in her success thus far.

It sees her settle for back-to-back second place and she will now take half the prize given $25,000 (Ksh3.2 million) is awarded to the runners-up.

However, in the men’s category, the $50,000 (Ksh6.4 million) prize will go to Kenya’s Benson who must have watched with delight as Ethiopian Tamirat Tola faded to fourth place in New York and failed to defend his title.

With Kipruto, the Tokyo Marathon champion and Olympics bronze medalist on 34 points before New York was run, Tola, the Olympics champion, who had 25 points, needed a top two finish to become the outright winner but he could only manage four points from his fourth place finish, and will have now have to settle for the runners-up prize of $25,000 (Ksh3.2 million), just like Obiri.

Nageeye went toe-to-toe with Chebet before outckicking him in the final 400 meters to win the race in 2:07:39.

The World Marathon Majors is reserved for elite marathoners who perform exemplarily in six major marathons; Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York where they accumulate points, and whoever has more at the end of the season is awarded the prize.

In an Olympics and World Championships year, the events also count towards the prize with winners in the men’s and women’s categories awarded $50,000 (Ksh6.4 million) each at the end of the campaign.

The points are 25 for first place, 16 for second, nine for third and four and one point for fourth and fifth place finishers in each of the six major marathons.

The cash prizes are not just restricted to the winners as second, third, fourth, and fifth places attract $25,000 (Ksh3.2 million), $12,500 (Ksh1.6 million), $7,500 (Ksh966,000) and $5,000 (Ksh644,000) respectively.