CITIUS MAG

😢

"I have seen tributes and comments from countless people who have a story about Frank Gagliano. And my favorite part? Pretty much none of them are really about running. They are about small acts of kindness. Like the time he gave his Big East Coach of the Year award to a coach whose team had improved from 10th to second in one year. Or about how he would be out in the rain watching the seventh heat of an 800 meter race because one of his guys was in there. T hey are about Gag taking a chance on you, and then making you feel like you were the only runner he cared about even though you knew he was doing the same for countless other athletes." We All Deserve A Coach Like Frank Gagliano 👇 citiusmag.com/articles/frank…

Correction: An earlier post misidentified the athlete provisionally suspended by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya. The agency’s website lists the athlete as Noah Kibet. @RunEmilyERun reports that the athlete is actually Noah Kibet Cherokony. The previous post incorrectly identified the suspended athlete as the 2022 World Indoor 800m silver medalist.

Kenyan 400m national record holder 🇰🇪 Mercy Adongo Oketch has been provisionally suspended by the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya after testing positive for two banned substances: trimetazidine, (a metabolic modulator) and furosemide (a diuretic). First reported by @MichKatami and confirmed by the ADAK Provisionally Suspended Athletes database. TMZ is a banned heart medication prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency at all times because it can improve endurance and blood flow efficiency. This is the same drug that Lawrence Cherono, a former winner of the Boston and Chicago marathons, was banned for. In 2025, Oketch ran her national record of 50.14 in front of a home crowd at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi. She went on to reach the semifinals at the World Championships in Tokyo. In 2026, she ran a Kenyan indoor 400m national record of 51.25 when she finished 5th at the World Indoor Championships. She was also part of Kenya's mixed 4x400m relay team that finished 4th at the Commonwealth Games.

You Should Run A Marathon With All Your Friends 👯 "While so many of our think-pieces focus on how to get the middle of the pack to care about the front, I have not personally thought enough about how to get the front of the race to appreciate the middle. Over the past five years, the depth of marathoning has exploded. But all that has really been made possible because of the commercial explosion led by the everyday marathoner—the ones who are hitting the 'Power Up' signs in Queens, and eating free pickles in the Bronx. Because of that, it has become financially possible for more races to offer more incentives for the really cool stuff up front to happen." 📫 Read more via @TheLapCount: thelapcount.substack.com/i/2…

Edna Kiplagat Is An All-Time Classic 🎶 "Edna Kiplagat’s doing the same things at 46 she was doing at 30, and is far surpassing her output from her 20s: showing up at (typically hilly, non-rabbitted) globally competitive marathons and holding her own. Particularly in an era where it can feel like every great marathoner is one doping bust away from falling from grace, it’s worth taking a little extra time to celebrate those like Kiplagat who have been really good for a really long time, doing it (seemingly) the right way and making both her home country and adopted home state proud for literal decades." 📫 Read more via @TheLapCount: thelapcount.substack.com/i/2…

Team USA Understands The Assignment 🗽 "The results from New York made the goal clear: Team USA can deliver two or more marathon medals at their home Olympics. The gap has shrunk between the best marathoners in the country and the best marathoners in the world, and the domestic competition has created a rising tide that’s lifted all boats." 📫 Read more via @TheLapCount: thelapcount.substack.com/i/2…

🗣️ “Anytime I had an uphill, I was like, ‘Thank God’… The last mile, I felt really, really good, so I tried to just crank down and enjoy the moment.” Jess McClain flexed her prowess in tackling hills yesterday in the closing miles of the New York City Marathon. On the strength of a 64-second close from Mile 26 to the finish, McClain ran down defending champion Hellen Obiri and finished second. 🎥 FULL PRESS CONFERENCE: youtu.be/jnvs8sX1gDU?is=LAn0…

🗣️ “I thought I had a shot of winning this, but I didn’t want to make any moves myself.” It may have been his first marathon, but Andreas Almgren looked like anything but a rookie en route to his victory at yesterday’s New York City Marathon. The Swedish star covered the final 1.2 miles in 5:21, opening a 13-second gap over eventual runner-up Yeman Crippa. 🎥 FULL PRESS CONFERENCE: youtu.be/0m680Z16XhE?is=-bnF…

🗣️ “It’s just pain, it’s just pain. I was repeating that in my head… This is your moment.” Zouhair Talbi was digging deep in the final stages of yesterday’s New York City Marathon, and his effort was rewarded with a sixth-place finish in 2:06:43. His time is the best ever by an American man in New York, and he was just 42 seconds off Andreas Almgren’s winning time. 🎥 FULL PRESS CONFERENCE: youtu.be/fOi1-bwuS28?is=3zk4…

“What, like it’s hard?” 💁‍♀️ Not many runners start their marathoning career undefeated… but Andreas Almgren isn’t most runners. The European record holder in the half marathon is now the 2026 NYC Marathon champion, the first Swedish champion in the race’s 56-years history.

Back in the top ten 🔟 In his fifth career marathon, Ryan Ford 🇺🇸 records his second top-ten finish at a World Marathon Major, taking tenth overall in New York with a 2:07:17 run after mixing it up with the leaders throughout much of the first 20 miles of the race.

Hanging tough 😤 After battling illness earlier in the week, Conner Mantz 🇺🇸 finishes 11th in the 2026 NYC Marathon in 2:07:27. Mantz has now run sub-2:08 in his last three straight marathons.

FANTASTIC DEBUT 🤩 Ahmed Muhumed 🇺🇸 crushes his first career marathon, finishing eighth in the 2026 NYC Marathon in 2:07:09, landing at #10 on the U.S. all-time list for record eligible courses in his first try at the distance.

AGE IS JUST A NUMBER 👸 The incredible Edna Kiplagat 🇰🇪 finishes fourth in the 2026 NYC Marathon at age 46, running 2:25:42 on the same course where she won the title 16(!) years prior. Kiplagat was with the leaders through 23 miles as she ended up just a minute off the podium in another chapter in her endlessly impressive career.

FOUR STRAIGHT PODIUMS 🥇🥈🥇🥉 Hellen Obiri 🇰🇪 continues to excel at the New York City Marathon, as she finishes top three in her fourth straight appearance with a 2:24:43 in the 2026 edition of the race. That’s the eighth World Marathon Major podium of her career, all in the last four seasons.

Mixing it up against the world’s best 🌪️ Zouhair Talbi 🇺🇸 put out yet another fearless effort at the 2026 NYC Marathon, finishing sixth in 2:06:43 and taking top American honors at a World Marathon Major for the second time his year. Talbi pushed the pace early, hitting the front several times in the middle miles before ending up less than a minute off Andreas Almgren’s 2:06:01 winning run.

ONE AND DONE 🔥 Andreas Almgren 🇸🇪 SMASHES his debut over 26.2, winning the 2026 NYC Marathon in 2:06:01 with a 4:25 26th mile to pull away from runner-up Yemaneberhan Crippa 🇮🇹, who takes second in 2:06:14. Americans put three in the top ten with Zouhair Talbi 6th, Ahmed Muhumed 7th, and Ryan Ford 10th.