NEW YORK (March 16) — South Africa’s Adriaan Wildschutt battled the cold conditions to win the men’s division at the 2026 United New York City Half Marathon, a World Athletics Label road race fixture in New York on Sunday (15).
Battling through the close to freezing temperatures the former Florida State representative cover the 21.1-kilometer course from Prospect Park in Brooklyn to Central Park in Manhattan in 59:30. With his victory, Wildschutt became the event’s first South African winner, and he is now just the third South African man to cross a finish line first in Central Park joining TCS New York City Marathon winners Hendrick Ramaala (2004) and Willie Mtolo (1992).
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Adriaan Wildschutt Surges To Victory At 2026 United New York City Half Marathon
The men’s race played out very differently from the women’s contest. Like the ladies, they were running fast, early (13:57 at 5K and 27:56 at 10K), but the lead pack was still 14-strong at 15K (42:24). There were a number of small surges by Ireland’s Peter Lynch, Kenya’s Patrick Kiprop, and America’s Zouhair Talbi, but nothing stuck.
That is, until about the 10-mile (16K) mark on East 42nd Street in front of Grand Central Terminal. Lynch went to the front again and the pack began to break up. American Grant Fisher, who was making his road racing and half-marathon debut, fell off the pace (he would finish 14th in 1:00:53). Wildschutt saw his chance.
“I talked to my coach yesterday, Jack Mullaney, and he was like if you want to win the race… you have to have the best last 5K,” Wildschutt said during his post-race interview. “I was biding my time and waiting… to make a big move and just see what was happening. So, I was able to separate myself from the pack and just keep pushing the pace.”
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Wildschutt’s move stuck. He made the left turn into Central Park with an 11-second lead on Talbi, and that lead held all the way to the finish. His time was 13 seconds off of his personal best, but considering the difficulty of the New York course and the very cold weather, it was probably his best-ever half-marathon. He also liked following in Ramaala’s footsteps; the now 54-year-old won the New York City Marathon in 2004.
“First time running in New York, and coming into Central Park I was so happy; it was beautiful,” Wildschutt told reporters. He continued: “I was glad that, even years after the fact (when Ramaala won), I was able to put a good performance on.”
Talbi, who was active and near the front the entire race, took second in 59:41, his first sub-60:00 half-marathon. Shockingly, third place went to India’s Gulveer Singh, who ran 59:42 in his debut. The 27-year-old, who became the first Indian man to break sixty minutes for a half-marathon, said that he would be returning to the track to focus on the Commonwealth Games this summer. Singh, who is coached by Scott Simmons of the American Distance Project in Colorado Springs, planned to run both the 5000m and 10,000m.
As for Fisher, the two-time Olympic bronze medalist was disappointed despite running the third-fastest debut in race history behind only Olympic medalists Mo Farah of Great Britain (1:00:23, 2011) and Galen Rupp of the United States (1:00:30, 2011). Fisher said the fast downhills early in the race beat up his legs, and when the race broke up around the 10-mile mark he just had nothing left.
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“That was hard, really, really hard,” said Fisher. “I was hoping my legs would be a little more resilient out there, but I think I wasn’t quite prepared for the pounding of the hills. The guys really surged on some of those downhills, and it beat-up my legs. By the time we got into Manhattan my legs were really tired.” He added: “I think I ran decently well, but those last few miles I was hurting coming home.”
Alex Maier (59:51), Peter Lynch (59:52), and Patrick Dever (59:56) finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. The three men are training partners in the Puma Elite Running group in North Carolina.
Defending champion Abel Kipchumba of Kenya was unable to finish. His last split was 43:43 at 15K.
