NYRR Media Center

Daniel Mesfun will be making his TCS New York City Marathon debut after finishing as runner-up at the United Airlines NYC Half in March. It will be the fifth marathon in Mesfun’s career; he set his personal-best marathon time of 2:10:06 last year in Toronto.

Mesfun is from Eritrea but trains in Flagstaff, AZ, under coach Jay Bawcom, the husband of 2012 U.S. Olympian Janet Bawcom. In May 2018, his victory at the Cleveland Marathon was upheld by race officials after he wore a shirt that covered his bib number for most of the race, which created confusion about whether he was running the marathon or the half marathon.

To kick off 2019, he set a personal-best by more than two minutes with a time of 1:01:12 to win the Rock ’n Roll Arizona Half Marathon. Two months later, he clocked a 1:02:16 to take second place at the United Airlines NYC Half after leading for much of the race and losing his lead with about a mile to go.