History was made again today at the Chicago Marathon when Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich ran 2:09:57 to win the women’s race and become the first woman to run under 2:10:00 in the Marathon. It couldn’t have happened in a better place than his “second home,” as he describes the Windy City in his post-race interview.
“I fulfilled my dream,” Czepngetic, who has been eyeing a world record since narrowly missing out on the 2022 edition of the marathon, where he won it in 2:14:18, said after the race. “I dedicate this world record to Kelvin Kiptum. I think he would be here to defend his title again.
“The weather was perfect this year and I prepared well for it. The world record was always in my mind during training. It’s my fourth year coming to Chicago and it feels like my second home, where the crowd always cheers me on.”
Since he set his PB, Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa has pushed the world record further to 2:11:53 at the Berlin Marathon last year. But that didn’t dampen Chepngetic’s pursuit of a world record to his name.
He intended to get it, so he went for it from the start of the race, crossing the 5K line in 15:01. At 10K, where he clocked 30:14, he was just ahead of Sutume Asefa Kebede, and their predicted finishing times at that point were under an incredible 2:08. To illustrate how fast this was, the qualifying time for the women’s 10,000m at the Paris Olympics was 30:40.
Cepngetic extended his lead at the halfway mark as he crossed it in 1:04.16 with Kebede in 1:04.30. The gap continued to widen rapidly until he was ahead of his nearest Ethiopian rival with around eight minutes to go. Kebede would finish second in 2:17:32.
Kenya’s Irene Cheptai clocked a new personal best of 2:17:52 as she finished third in her second career marathon.
The men’s race was held in a slightly different way. The Elites ran a modestly fast pace throughout, not fast enough to break up the lead group and not slow enough to allow a larger pack ahead. About ten men were still around when they crossed the half marathon in 1:02.19.
John Korir finally took the lead after the pacers trailed by 30K and the men’s field suddenly turned into a long single file. Korir soon found himself running alone at the front to comfortably win the race (his first World Marathon Masters win) in a new personal best of 2:02:44. He finished almost two minutes ahead of Ethiopia’s Huseydin Mohamed Essa, who ran 2:04:39. Kenyan representative Amos Kipruto took the third place with the result of 2:04:50.
It was another successful edition of the Chicago Marathon for fans and runners alike. A great time was had by all, who came to run for various reasons, to honor runners who couldn’t run, lose hundreds of pounds and stay in shape, and prove the naysayers wrong, among other reasons.
