New York City Marathon breakdown and splits: how Tamirat Tola broke Geoffrey Mutai’s 12-year-old course record 

It has taken 12 years for the men’s course record to fall at the New York City Marathon. But this is a new age of marathon running, with both the men’s and women’s world records falling in the past months.

Tamirat Tola’s time of 2:04:58 in New York was eight seconds faster than the previous record of 2:05:06 set by Geoffrey Mutai in 2011 - a mark that had itself shattered a course record that had stood for a decade.

Tola had twice finished fourth in the Big Apple before Sunday’s race but this victory - his first in a Marathon Major - ended with the Ethiopian on top of the podium after a thrilling final surge that saw him take the race into his own hands with around 10km to go.

Such was Tola’s dominance that his closest competitor, Albert Korir, finished almost two minutes behind the race winner who made up for the disappointment of pulling out of the World Championships marathon in August due to stomach issues.

But just how fast was Tola’s record-breaking race in New York? And how does it stack up against the previous course record of Mutai? Find out all you need to know below.

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Tola and Mutai’s record-breaking runs in New York – side-by-side analysis

Both Tola and Mutai produced very similar splits over the first kilometres, with Tola passing through 5km in 15:29 and Mutai in 15:34. The times at 10km were only seconds apart at 30:40 and 30:24 respectively.

However, by the 20km mark, Tola had begun to gather pace, setting a time of 59:34 that compared favourably to Mutai’s 1:00:04.

At 30km, it looked as if Tola could shatter the course record as he reached the mark in an impressive 1:28:22 compared to Mutai’s 1:29:47.

However, while Mutai produced a significant negative split in the second half-marathon of the race completing the final portion in under one hour and two minutes, Tola did not show the same type of finishing speed, ending the race after a final half marathon of 1:02:11.

In the end, Tola’s brilliant race came down to consistency with only 34 seconds separating the first and second halves of the race.

But that consistency was enough to see him crowned champion in New York and with it tear down a course record that had been untouched in a dozen years.

Tamirat Tola vs Geoffrey Mutai split comparison

What's next on the international marathon schedule?

Perhaps the most important marathon not to have already taken place this year - and one that is notorious for fast times - is the Valencia Marathon that takes place on 3 December in Spain.

One world-class runner who will be making his highly-anticipated marathon debut in Valencia is Joshua Cheptegei, the Olympic 5000m gold medallist who also has three world titles in the 10,000m from Doha 2019, Oregon 2022 and most recently, Budapest 2023.

Then the annual schedule of Marathon Majors begins again in 2024 with the Tokyo Marathon on 3 March closely followed by the Boston Marathon on 15 April and the London Marathon on 21 April.

Next year, of course, also includes the Olympic Games Paris 2024, where the marathon races will take place on 10 August (men's race) and 11 August (women's), before the final Marathon Majors of the year conclude with Berlin (29 September), Chicago (13 October) and New York (3 November).

• Tamirat Tola sets course record, Hellen Obiri emerges from tight pack in respective maiden wins at New York City Marathon