Ruth Chepngetich crosses the finish line in 2:09:56 — world record time — at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. (All photos courtesy of Bank of America Chicago Marathon/Kevin Morris)
Chicago Marathon

Feeling The Breeze Through A Windy City Major

October 14, 2024
Records are meant to be broken and Kenya's Ruth Chepngetich set her sights on etching a new mark in the books on Sunday. Her 2:09:56 performance in the women's race blew past the old standard by nearly two minutes and she was in control well before the halfway point.

Just a year removed from Kelvin Kiptum's stunning record feat on the same course, Chepngetich proved that more breakthroughs lie ahead.
Conditions were ideal at the start of the race, with the temperature in the low 50s, some sun and clouds.
John Korir opened up a comfortable lead around the Mile 19 mark and managed to pull away from a group that included Huseydin Mohamed Esa and Amos Kipruto, who finished second and third.
Amos Kipruto appeared locked in and he battled for a top three finish. He crossed the line in 2:04:50 in third place.
Ruth Chepngetich dominated from the early stages of the race and was in control by the halfway mark.
With the Chicago Theater in the background, a pack of the men’s elite runners surge alongside the women’s elite group and their pacers.
The chase pack stayed tightly together after Korir made a decisive move around Mile 19 and took the lead.
Chepngetich’s pacers kept her well ahead of the world record for most of the race, helping ensure that she would emerge victorious.
Korir managed to break ahead in the later stages of the race and crossed the finish line in 2:02:44.
Marcel Hug and Catherine Debrunner were all smiles after winning their respective wheelchair race divisions. Hug crossed the line in 1:25:54 in a final dash. Debrunner won in her second straight Chicago Marathon in 1:36:12.
Matthew Centrowitz was on pacing duties for Keira D’Amato before she dropped out. But he stayed in the race and finished in 2:24:36.
Susanna Sullivan finished seventh overall and ran 2:21:56 as the first American in the women’s field. Lindsay Flanagan finished in 2:23:31 (ninth overall) and was the second American, while Emma Bates crossed the line 2:24:00.
Chepngetich’s new record (2:09:56) shaved nearly two minutes off of the previous mark — 2:11:53 — by Tigist Assefa at the 2023 Berlin Marathon.

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