Baddeley finished in 3min 51.8sec to edge Boaz Lalang of Kenya and become the first Briton since Matthew Yates in 1991 to win the race sponsored by Continental Airlines.

Lalang was second in 3:52.0 and American Leo Manzano third in 3:52.2.

Baddeley, a 27-year-old aeronautical engineering graduate from the Wirral, turned out to have run exactly according to plan.

He said: "I know a lot of people start to go with 200 metres left in a road mile for me that’s too early…even 100 to go is too early.

"I was waiting until the last 50."

Manzano thanked the awards-ceremony crowd in English and Spanish, after which Baddeley remarked, “I’m just struggling to speak English right now."

America's Shannon Rowbury won the women's event, finishing in 4:23.3 to beat Briton Lisa Dobriskey and American Sarah Hall.

Both crossed in 4:23.9 with Dobriskey placing second in a photo finish.

Dobriskey, last year's winner, was just relieved to have finally make it back to New York.

She said: "I enjoyed my experience here so much last year, and I wanted to do the New Year’s Eve run but I was injured, so NYRR (New York Road Runenrs Club) rescheduled my flight for the [Reebok Grand Prix], and I was injured again, so they rescheduled my flight again and finally here I am."