It was the result that we weren’t ready for: Ruth Chepngetich’s outstanding world record at the 2024 Chicago Marathon. Sprinting to an official finish time of 2:09:56 at the race on Sunday (13 October), the Kenyan shattered the previous mark of 2:11:53 – achieved by Ethtiopia’s Tigist Assefa at the 2023 Berlin Marathon – by almost two minutes.
Now the first and only woman to have run a sub-2:10 marathon, Chepngetich also broke what many thought to be an impossible barrier.
‘It is my dream,’ said Chepngetich, shortly after completing the race and stunning the world with her record-breaking performance in Chicago.
Sutume Kebede of Ethiopia finished second in a time of 2:17:32, more than seven minutes behind Chepngetich. Irine Cheptai of Kenya then came through to claim third in 2:17:51.
At the sound of the start gun, 30-year-old Chepngetich went out at breakneck pace, running 15:00 for the first 5K to put her on pace for a 2:07 marathon. Around this time, she was running in a group with the lead American men, Zach Panning and CJ Albertson.
At the halfway mark, Chepngetich’s split of 1:04:16 would have put her fifth on the all-time list of half marathon runners – but whether or not she could hold onto such speed over the second half was yet to be known. In fact, after the race, she did say that she was nervous about keeping up the pace when she saw her splits at this point.
Fears aside, though, and by 30km Chepngetich was nearly two minutes ahead of her closest competitor, Kebede, and well over five minutes ahead of Cheptai, who was moving in third position.
Just over 12km later and Chepngetich was storming down the finish straight, alone, to emphatic applause. Her average pace for the race? A staggering 4:57.4 min/mile.
Amazingly, she didn’t record a mile slower than 5:00 until mile 19, which she completed in 5:07. She then followed this up with a quicker 5:02 for mile 20. For context, when Assefa set the previous women’s marathon world record in Berlin in 2023, her average pace was 5:01.8 min/mile.
Chepngetich takes home $100,000 for the win, a $50,000 bonus for setting the course record and, surely, a significant contractual bonus from her sponsor, Nike. However, this isn’t the first time that Chepngetich has broken the tape in the Windy City. She won the Chicago Marathon in both 2021 and 2022, and finished second in 2023 to then-course record holder Sifan Hassan. In 2022, Chepngetich ran her previous personal best of 2:14:18, which ranked her fourth on the all-time list of marathon runners.
Now, she ranks first.
Her competitors, including American Betsy Saina, who lives in Kenya, said that they were both happy for her and in disbelief. ‘I used to think that 2:13 was crazy,’ said Saina. ‘But 2:09? I don’t know what to think anymore.’
Albertson, who was the first American man to cross the finish line at this year’s Chicago Marathon, said that the first 10K of the race was chaotic. He was surprised to see Chepngetich among the men and, apparently, not even straining. ‘I looked over and was like, “I know we’re running under 2:07 pace, but she looks great”,’ he said.
According to race director Carey Pinkowski, conditions were ideal for fast times, with cool temperatures, minimal wind and overcast skies presenting on the day. And now? The Chicago Marathon is the site of both the men’s and women’s existing marathon world records. Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya set the stunning men’s mark of 2:00:35 in 2023, while this year’s winner, countryman John Korir, set the second-fastest time in the race’s history with his 2:02:44 performance.
In February, just a few months on from his historic victory, Kiptum died in a car accident in Kenya at the age of just 24. This year’s race paid tribute to him with a moment of silence before the start.
