Where to Watch the 2026 New York City Marathon Online Without Cable

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It goes without saying that the annual New York City Marathon is one of the most special days of the year: uniting strangers, both spectators and runners alike, in the pursuit of 26.2 miles.

Traditionally taking place on the first Sunday of November, this year’s TCS New York City Marathon lands on November 1, kicking off at 8:00 a.m. EST for the professional wheelchair and handcycle divisions, with the pros assembling at the starting line next — followed by five waves of amateur runners.

2026 New York City Marathon Details

Weaving its way through all five of the city’s boroughs, the marathon’s route has been adjusted for the first time in 15 years (the change affects a portion of the course in the South Bronx). 2026 also marks the 50th anniversary of said five-borough concept, as the marathon was originally based only in Central Park before expanding, and drawing in more participants, to celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial.

How to Watch the 2026 New York City Marathon Online

If you don’t plan on finding yourself in the Big Apple on November 1, there’s still a way to catch the action and camaraderie live by streaming the New York City Marathon online. It will be broadcast on WABC-TV locally and on ESPN2 nationally; cable cutters, though, can tune in with the help of a few editor-recommended streaming platforms like DirecTV, Fubo, and Hulu + Live TV. All of them have free trials attached for watching the marathon without having to pay.

Here’s more to know.

Professional Runners Competing in 2026 New York City Marathon

According to New York Road Runners, this year’s professional athlete field for the 2026 TCS New York City Marathon features “three defending champions, 40 Olympians and Paralympians, 25 Olympic, Paralympic, and World Championships medalists, and 22 national record holders.”

Defending champions Hellen Obiri, Benson Kipruto, and Marcel Hug will “return to headline the women’s open division and men’s open and wheelchair divisions,” joined by notable names like Sheila Chepkirui, Sifan Hassan, Geoffrey Kamworor, Abdi Nageeye, Daniel Romanchuk, and David Weir.

Nearly 60,000 participants are set to run the course this year, chosen from a pool of over 240,000 applicants as part of New York Road Runners’ highly competitive selection process. If history is any indication, they will be cheered on by approximately two million spectators, who can always be counted on to line the streets, handmade signs in tow, and support the athletes — until the very last runner crosses the finish line in Central Park.

Celebrity Runners Competing in 2026 New York City Marathon

Each year, the NYC Marathon also attracts many an A-lister. 2026’s celebrity lineup includes Jennifer Connelly, Joshua Bassett, Antoni Porowski, Dylan Efron, Tiki Barber, Zarna Garg, Del Water Gap, and beyond. High-profile runners have also been known to register under fake names, and there’s speculation going around that Harry Styles will be among the throng, with his 30-night Madison Square Garden residency ending just a day earlier on October 31.

At the 2025 New York City Marathon, Obiri won the women’s race and set a course record while wearing the On Cloudboom Strike LS shoe. Kipruto, for this part, took home the men’s win in what was deemed the closest result for that category in marathon history: finishing 0.16 seconds faster than Alexander Mutiso Munyao. He had the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 2 shoe on, which was also spotted on winners’ feet at marathons across Tokyo, London, Berlin, and Chicago last year.

On November 1, we expect to see Obiri donning an On shoe yet again, given the fact that she is sponsored by the brand. The same logic applies to Kipruto, an Adidas athlete. Hassan, Kamworor, and Nageeye, meanwhile, wear gear from Nike, and Chepkirui is another Adidas-sponsored runner.

New Balance continues to be the athletic footwear sponsor of both the New York Road Runners and the TCS New York City Marathon. The New Balance FuelCell SC Elite v6 model is the official race-day super shoe for New Balance athletes at the 2026 NYC Marathon, and you can buy it online on New Balance’s site for $289.99.

Other anticipated footwear sightings during the grand event (called “the best day of the year, in the best city in the world” by New York Road Runners) span the re-engineered Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 from Adidas (dropping online on October 29 at 9:00 a.m. EST), Nike’s Alphafly 3 road-racing style, and Brooks’ carbon-plated Hyperion Elite 6 release.

Get inspired by the best of the best in running — and their sneaker choices — by watching the New York City Marathon on November 1, courtesy of DirecTV, Fubo, and Hulu + Live TV.

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Meet the Author

Stacia Datskovska is a Senior Commerce Writer at WWD. Previously, she worked at ELLE DECOR as an assistant digital editor, covering all things luxury, culture, and lifestyle through a design lens. Her bylines over the past five years have appeared in USA Today, Baltimore Sun, Teen Vogue, Boston Globe, Food & Wine, and more. Prior to joining ELLE DECOR, Datskovska learned the ins and outs of e-commerce at Mashable, where she tested products, covered tentpole sales, and curated gift guide roundups. She graduated from NYU with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and international relations. Datskovska regularly reports on annual sports happenings and how to stream them online for free.