Ruth Chepngetich has a chance to forge a new category of champion if she can win Sunday’s bank of America Chicago Marathon.
The Kenyan can become the first woman to win three editions of this famous old race, elevating her above a list of the sport’s brightest stars such as Rosa Mota, Catherine Ndereba, Florence Kiplagat and, most recently, Brigid Kosgei.
It was Kosgei’s world record of 2:14:04 – set in Chicago in 2019 – that Chepngetich came close to breaking when she won here for the second time in 2022.
She clocked 2:14:18 that day to become the second fastest woman in history, but as impressive as the time was, it was a deeper analysis of her run that day that really uncovered what she might be capable of.
By the 10km mark, she had run so fast that she had a gap of one minute and 55 seconds over the field, and was 20-seconds ahead of the quickest American man at that point.
Her first 10 miles were completed in 49:49, quicker than any woman had ever run in a 10-mile race, and she registered 65:44 at halfway.
By 30km she was still on pace to take nearly two minutes off Kosgei’s world record, but her two following 5km splits signaled that the marathon had come to collect its rent, and she ended up 14 seconds adrift of her countrywoman’s mark.
That time has now slipped to fourth on the list thanks to Tigst Assefa’s blistering 2:11:53 in Berlin last year and Sifan Hassan’s 2:13:44 in the Windy City just two weeks later, where Chepngetich was second in 2:15:37, the fastest time ever by a runner-up on the course.
The 30-year-old arrives for her fourth appearance in Chicago with plenty of talent alongside her.
Sutume Kebede is the fastest woman in the world this year with 2:15:55 from her win in Tokyo, while Joyciline Jepkosgei has London and New York City titles on her resumé.
Kebede will be expecting to run faster than her Tokyo-winning time on a course known to be considerably quicker than the Japanese capital, and will toe the line having run the fastest half marathon ever seen on American soil when she clocked 1:04:37 in Houston in January.
The Ethiopian Degitu Azimeraw must also not be ruled out of contention. The 25-year-old made her Majors debut in 2021 in London and came second in 2:17:58. She ran under 2:20 again when she won Barcelona earlier this year.
But its Chepngetich, with her experience, and that tantalizing 30km here in 2022 that promised so much, who begins as the woman to beat.
“She knows what that tastes like now,” said race director Carey Pinkowski after Chepngetich came so close to lowering that world record in 2022.
She certainly does, and it could be that flavor of punishing speed that carries her into new territory on Sunday, as a three-time champion of a race that rarely fails to fill new pages in the marathon history books.
Other news
