The running watches behind New York Marathon’s top two men

The top two men at the 2026 New York City Marathon were separated by just 13 seconds, and they also happen to use two very different running watches. Winner Andreas Almgren uses the COROS PACE 4, while runner-up Yemaneberhan Crippa has been training and racing with the Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro.

Almgren won in 2:06:01 on his marathon debut, with Crippa finishing in 2:06:14. That alone makes their choice of hardware worth a closer look.

Almgren runs with the COROS PACE 4

Almgren is an unusual marathon winner because he started his career much further down the distance scale. The Swede was once a 1:45 800 metre runner before gradually moving up through the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres and half marathon.

New York was his first attempt at the full marathon distance. He stayed with the leading group before making his move late in the race and pulling away from Crippa near the finish.

Almgren uses the COROS PACE 4, often paired with the company’s optical Heart Rate Monitor worn on the upper arm. He is particularly interested in training data, which perhaps is not surprising given that he also has a background in mathematics.

The PACE 4 is one of COROS’s more focused running watches. It weighs just 32 grams with its nylon strap and uses a 1.2-inch AMOLED display, while battery life stretches to around 41 hours with GPS enabled.

It is also relatively inexpensive at $249. That is notable when plenty of modern sports watches now cost two or three times as much. So don’t make the mistake of thinking the watch with the most bells and whistles will help you improve on your marathon time.

Crippa uses the Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro

Crippa, on the other hand, came into New York with rather more marathon experience. The Italian won the Paris Marathon earlier this year in 2:05:18 and has also won European titles over 10,000 metres and the half marathon.

His New York preparation included some huge training volumes, reportedly reaching around 200 km per week. The Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro has been part of that training setup and was also on his wrist when he won in Paris.

The recently launched Cheetah 2 Pro takes a different approach from the PACE 4. At 45.6 grams without the strap it is still light by sports-watch standards, but it packs in considerably more hardware.

There is a 1.32-inch AMOLED display with sapphire glass, a Grade 5 titanium frame, dual-band GPS, offline maps and 32GB of storage. Amazfit quotes up to 31 hours of battery life in its most accurate GPS mode and up to 20 days in typical daily use.

The price is also considerably higher at $449.99. That puts it closer to premium running watches.

Two different approaches to the same job

What stands out here is not simply that COROS and Amazfit finished first and second. The two watches represent quite different approaches to building a serious running watch.

The PACE 4 keeps things light, relatively inexpensive and heavily focused on training. The Cheetah 2 Pro adds premium materials, maps and considerably more storage while remaining reasonably light on the wrist.

Neither runner needed one of the giant flagship adventure watches that now dominate the top end of the market. After 42.2 km through New York, their respective timepieces were attached to the two fastest men in the race, separated by only a few seconds.