Course record-holders Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia and Margaret Okayo of Kenya will defend their New York City Marathon titles on November 3.
Other participants announced by race organizers Wednesday include Boston Marathon winner Rodgers Rop of Kenya and 2000 New York city Marathon champion Ludmila Petrova of Russia. Rop was third in New York last year.
Jifar posted the fastest time through New York's five boroughs last year in two hours, seven minutes, 43 seconds. Okayo finished in 2:24:21 hours. She also won at the Boston Marathon in April. Both the men's and women's New York City Marathon champions will win $80,000 and a car. For the first time, the elite women will start about 35 minutes before the men. About 30,000 runners are to participate in the 42.2-kilometer race.