James Milner has kept himself in tip-top condition since confirming his retirement from professional football in June, and his incredible fitness levels were displayed at the New York Marathon.

Across an illustrious 24-year professional career, Milner was known as the Premier League's Iron Man, carving out a reputation for being one of the fittest players in the sport. During his time at Liverpool from 2015 to 2023, the Englishman won the club's infamous lactate test every year in pre-season.

A structured and dedicated routine was the key to Milner becoming the Premier League's record appearance holder after playing 658 times in England's top flight before retiring at the age of 40. Five months after announcing the end of his playing journey, the once versatile and energetic midfielder is channelling that energy as an elite runner.

James Milner's New York City Marathon time compared to other athletes

After bringing the curtain down on his professional football career, Milner spent the last few months training for the New York Marathon and updated his millions of Instagram followers with a video in September of how his training has gone.

"I’ve been trying to do three or four runs a week, building up the mileage. It’s been a bit of a transition, obviously," he told LetsRun.com ahead of his first marathon, joining 60,000 others who tackled the event.

"It’s completely different to playing football. Football’s multi-directional, lots of high-intensity runs. I’ve always had a pretty good engine. But then, in the last few years, when you get a bit older, you have to look after yourself a bit more in football. So I was stopped from running in pre-season and things like that."

On Sunday (November 1), Milner was finally able to show how hard he's been training and preparing for the race by completing it in an impressive 3 hours, 9 minutes and 4 seconds. That is an incredible 7:12 per mile and 4:28 per kilometre for 26.1 miles (42km).

According to the Marathon Handbook, that time places the former Liverpool and Manchester City midfielder in the 92nd percentile for all male finishers globally. So, where did he place among the athletes who finished the New York Marathon the quickest?

Well, Andreas Almgren came first after completing the men's race in a staggering 2:06:01 on his marathon debut, 13 seconds ahead of Ethiopian Yemaneberhan Crippa in second.

The 31-year-old Swede remarkably finished just over an hour quicker than Milner, as he continued an excellent year that also saw him win continental gold over 10,000m on the track in Birmingham.

Kamohelo Mofolo completed it 12 seconds later to finish third, narrowly ahead of Benson Kipruto, with Haftu Strintzos in fifth.

New York City marathon 2026 results

Men’s elite race

1 Andreas Almgren (SWE), 2:06:01

2 Yemaneberhan Crippa (ITA), 2:06:14

3 Kamohelo Mofolo (LES), 2:06:26

4 Benson Kipruto (KEN), 2:06:27

5 Haftu Strintzos (AUS), 2:06:34

6 Zouhair Talbi (USA), 2:06:43

7 Ahmed Muhumed (USA), 2:07:08

8 Geoffrey Kamworor (KEN), 2:07:09

9 Ryota Kondo (JPN), 2:07:09

10 Ryan Ford (USA), 2:07:17

Women’s elite race

1 Sheila Chepkirui (KEN), 2:24:36

2 Jessica McClain (USA), 2:24:42

3 Hellen Obiri (KEN), 2:24:43

4 Edna Kiplagat (KEN), 2:25:42

5 Mercy Chelangat (KEN), 2:25:46

6 Carrie Ellwood (USA), 2:26:28

7 Weini Kelati (USA), 2:26:51

8 Paige Wood (USA), 2:27:29

9 Viola Cheptoo (KEN), 2:28:34

10 Fabienne Königstein (GER), 2:28:49