Olympic silver medallist Abdi Nageeye has become the first Dutch athlete to win the prestigious New York Marathon, outsprinting Kenya’s Evans Chebet to cross the line in a time of 2:07.39.

The 35-year-old made up for his disappointment in the Paris Olympics, where he started as one of the favourites but dropped out three kilometres from the finish after colliding with another runner midway through.

“I kept telling myself this is my day,” Nageeye told ESPN after the race. “The Olympics was a disappointing race; very tough for me.

“But I said: ‘I have to go to New York.’ My goal was the podium, maybe win. I knew what I was capable of.”

Kenyans dominated this year’s event, finishing third and fourth in the men’s race and filling the podium in the women’s race, which was won by Sheila Chepkirui in a time of 2:24:35.

Nageeye finished third in the 2022 New York marathon – won by Chebet – and has been in the top five in each of the last four years.

Dutch record holder

Born in Somalia, Nageeye came to the Netherlands as a refugee at the age of six. After spells in Syria and Somalia, he returned to the village of Oldebroek, Gelderland, where he was adopted by a Dutch family.

In 2021 he took second place in the Olympic marathon in Tokyo, famously helping his friend, Belgian runner Bashir Abdi, to cross the line a few paces behind him.

He has been the Dutch record holder for the marathon since 2017 and improved his best time to 2:04:45 in winning this year’s Rotterdam marathon.