Abdi Nageeye is a name that the world remembers from an infamous Paris Olympics moment! The Somali-Dutch long-distance runner had a major setback during the Paris Olympics. Nageeye might be a silver medalist in the marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but the 2024 marathon was more than he could handle. The match ended with Abdi Nageeye’s name standing synonymous with DNF. So what exactly happened?

Well, when Nageeye reached the 20-kilometer mark, he collided with Alexander Mutiso. Later, as the marathon progressed and reached 35 kilometers, Nageeye was struggling. He had severe leg pain, causing him to drop from the race. However, Nageeye has not let this disappointment define his year! As he stood at the start line of the 2024 New York City Marathon, he was ready to rewrite his 2024 story!

Abdi Nageeye’s perfect end to the redemption arc!

And that is exactly what Abdi Nageeye did! Nageeye already has a bronze from when he ran the 2022 NYC marathon. And this time, his stakes were too high to settle for anything but gold. The marathon, when it reached its final mile, saw one of the most tense battles. As the race reached Queensboro Bridge, Evans Chebet was going strong without losing any momentum. He crossed the 16-mile mark. What came next changed the marathon results!

Nageeye kept a steady pace throughout. Until he reached the last 400m, where the marathon was truly decided. Nageeye went on to outpace the 2022 Champion Chebet. Soon, Nageeye clocked 2:07:39 and won gold! However, that’s not the only exciting part. It is also the negative split! Nageeye had a negative split of 65:35 for the first half and 62:02 for the second. Talk about endurance! Chebet went on to win silver, clocking 2:07:45, and Albert Korir won bronze at 2:08:00. While the win was one for the ages. It wasn’t the only one at the NYC marathon.

Some other historic moments from the NYC 2024 Marathon!

In the women’s marathon, Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui won her first-ever title in the NYC marathon circuit. Sheila, however, does have other laurels to her name. She won bronze during the 2022 Commonwealth Games and even won gold at the 2016 African Championships. But she, too, won the marathon in the final-mile push. Chepkirui went on to clock 2:24:35 and win gold. Her timing was also monumental, considering Chepkirui beat the 2023 champion Hellen Obiri during the race. Hellen only clocked 2:24:49 and won silver. While Vivian Cheruiyot, also from Kenya, won the bronze, clocking 2:25:21. But that’s not all that happened; there were also the wheelchair events!

The wheelchair events also had surprising results. In the men’s wheelchair race, Daniel Romanchuk was all set to race again after his 2019 Gold. And race he did! Daniel went on to clock 1:36:31 and win gold yet again. Along the way, he beat Britain’s David Weir and even the reigning champion Marcel Hug. Meanwhile, in the women’s wheelchair races, Susannah Scaroni defended her title. She went on to 1:48:05. A time that was 10 minutes ahead of the runner-up, Tatyana McFadden! The NYC marathon, yet again, was packed with redemption and, above that, dramatic finishes!