In Chicago Marathon, women’s world record broken by nearly two minutes
Winning the Chicago Marathon was nothing new for Ruth Chepngetich, but in capturing the victory for the third time Sunday, she made history by becoming the first woman to run 26.2 miles in under two hours, 10 minutes, lowering the world record in the process.
The 30-year-old runner from Kenya finished the race in 2:09:56, nearly two minutes faster than the time of 2:11:53 set by Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa in the 2023 Berlin Marathon. Chepngetich’s best performances have come in Chicago, where she won in 2021 and 2022 and finished second last year.
Her world record comes a year after her countryman, Kelvin Kiptum, set the men’s world record in Chicago with a time of 2:00:35. Kiptum was killed in a car crash last winter and Chepngetich dedicated her race to him.
“I feel so great. I’m very proud of myself. This is my dream that has come true,” she said in an interview with NBC Chicago. “I fought a lot, thinking about the world record. The world record has come back to Kenya, and I dedicate this world record to Kelvin Kiptum.”
Chepngetich came into the race with the fourth-fastest time in history, a 2:14:18 that came on Chicago’s flat course in 2022 and was 14 seconds of the world mark at the time. On Sunday, she finished 7:36 ahead of Ethiopia’s Sutume Kebede, while only nine runners on the men’s side had faster times than Chepngetich.
Four of the five fastest women’s marathons have been run in Chicago, the fifth of the year’s six Abbott World Marathon Majors, over the last six years. It has been the site of three men’s world record races (Steve Jones, 2:08:05, 1984; Khalid Khannouchi, 2:05:42, 1999; and Kiptum) and three women’s world record performances before Sunday (Catherine Ndereba, 2:18:47, 2001; Paula Radcliffe, 2:17:18, 2002; and Brigid Kosgei, 2:14:04, 2019).
Kenya’s John Korir was the men’s winner, taking a major title for the first time in his career with a time of 2:02:44. The younger brother of the 2012 Boston Marathon winner Wesley Korir, he was third in Chicago in 2022, fourth in Chicago in 2023 and fourth in Boston in April. He won the Los Angeles Marathon in 2021 and 2022.
The New York City Marathon, set for Nov. 3. is the last of the year’s world major marathons.