The elite races were won by Albert Korir and Peres Jepchirchir, both of Kenya, in 2:08:22 and 2:22:39 respectively; both athletes received $100,000 for winning their events.

The wheelchair races were won by Marcel Hug of Switzerland and Madison de Rozario of Australia, in 1:31:24 and 1:51:01 respectively; both athletes received $25,000 for winning their events.

[2] It was the last of the five World Marathon Majors held in 2021; all of the events in the series were run in the space of six weeks between late September and early November.

[8] Given the ongoing pandemic, the number of runners was limited to 33,000,[2] and competitors were required to either prove that they were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or to have had a recent negative COVID-19 test.

[10] Competitors were required to wear face coverings when not racing,[11] and started in five different timeslots, to minimize crowding on the course.

[15][17] The elite women's race featured Peres Jepchirchir, who won the marathon event at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics,[19] and had the fastest personal best time of all competitors in the field.

[25] The women's wheelchair race featured Manuela Schär, who had won the last three New York City Marathons, and set the course record in 2019.

[31] The men's wheelchair race featured 2018 and 2019 winner Daniel Romanchuk, as well as three time former champion Marcel Hug.

[36] The elite men's event was won by Kenyan Albert Korir, ahead of Moroccan Mohamed El Araby and Italian Eyob Faniel.

[38] El Araby and Faniel took the lead early in the race, and at the halfway point, they were 51 seconds ahead of a chasing group containing Korir.

[36] Hug led the race throughout; after 20 kilometres (12 mi), he had a lead of three minutes over Briton David Weir,[9] and was on track to beat the course record.

[8] Celebrity sportspeople who participated included former international women's soccer players Abby Wambach, Lauren Holiday, Kate Markgraf and Leslie Osborne, as well as former American footballer Tiki Barber.

[41] Other celebrity competitors included Catfish: The TV Show presenter Nev Schulman, musician Marcus Mumford, ultramarathon runner Robin Arzon, television presenter Willie Geist, Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former US president Bill Clinton, supermodel Christy Turlington, and reality TV stars Tayshia Adams, Peter Weber and Matt James.