Grant Fisher will move up from the track and onto the road on March 15 as he makes his half marathon debut at the United Airlines NYC Half.
The two-time Olympic medalist was revealed as the first headliner of the race on Thursday in an announcement by New York Road Runners.
“I love challenging myself and seeing what’s possible, so I’m thrilled to make my half marathon debut at the United Airlines NYC Half,” Fisher said. “New York has always been a special place for me, and after breaking records here on the track, I can’t wait to experience the city from a new perspective on the roads.”
Fisher will take on a fast course that begins in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park before moving over the Manhattan Bridge, onto a shutdown FDR Drive highway and through Times Square. The final portion of the race ends in Central Park near the New York City Marathon finish line.
Abel Kipchumba won last year’s men’s race in 59:09, while Sharon Lokedi surged late to take the women’s event in 1:07:04 in a final tune-up before her dramatic win at the Boston Marathon the following month.
At this point last year, Fisher was dominant on the track as he set a pair of indoor world records that set the tone for the season. In early February he shattered the indoor 3,000m world record at Millrose Games in New York in 7:22.91 in a battle with Cole Hocker — lowering Lamecha Girma’s mark of 7:23.81 from 2023.
Just a week later, he stormed to a new world record in the indoor 5,000m in 12:44.09 at the BU Valentine Invitational in Boston as part of a year where he became only the second man ever and first American to run a sub-3:50 mile, sub-13:00
5,000m, and sub-27:00 10,000m.
Fisher will be among the nearly 29,000 participants taking part in the NYC Half, in a race that was first staged in 2006 and has had three changes to its course, with the start in Brooklyn implemented in 2018. The race is the largest half marathon in the U.S. and had 28,709 finishers last year.
The rest of the professional field of the NYC Half will be announced in February.
