It is hard to escape. Something is missing from this year’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Someone.
October 8, 2023 rocketed Kelvin Kiptum’s name into the record books with such a dazzling flash and bang that it left all those who witnessed it a little dumbstruck, trying to fathom whether the digits on the clock were a mistake.
They were not.
Two hours and 35 seconds flashed around the world and a new king of the marathon was crowned.
What followed was a tragedy; for the sport and for his country but, most viscerally, for his young family. Here he was one moment, the fastest man in history, hurtling towards a date with sub-two-hour destiny in his next scheduled appearance. Then he was gone.
Gone but not forgotten.
Kiptum’s name has been on everyone’s lips this week during the build-up to the 2024 edition of a race that will forever be linked to his astonishing feat.
"This year, as we acknowledge the loss and void at the start line, we want to remember his legacy. Kiptum pushed the sport of marathoning beyond what anyone thought was possible, and what he would have done next is what leaves us all with wonder and often sadness. Instead, we challenge you all to set your own record as you run in his footsteps, on a World Record course," said the race’s official social media accounts.
Each runner has also been offered a memorial sticker that can be added to their bib.
And so it is down to those who follow in his fast footsteps on Sunday to honor his memory. At the very front of the field, someone is going to join him on a list of great champions in a city that knows plenty about sporting icons.
It could be the Ethiopian Birhanu Legese, the fastest man on paper in the lineup with a personal best set in Berlin, 2019, of 2:02:48.
Legese ran in Rotterdam in April, the place where Kiptum was due to race next, and then clocked 60:47 at the Antrim Coast Half Marathon in August, just a second quicker than Kiptum’s first half in Chicago last year.
Then there is Amos Kipruto, the 2022 London champion who makes his return to the distance after a struggle with injury. In an interview earlier this year with Nation.Africa, he said of his late countryman: “His memories will remain because he became the first person to run under two hours and one minute. This is a challenge to me as a marathoner.”
Vincent Ngetich also flies the Kenyan flag after clocking 2:03:13 in Berlin last year, and Daniel Ebenyo arrives to the marathon with a silver medal from the 2023 World Championship 10,000m.
A name from this talented clutch of athletes has the opportunity step forward on Sunday to add their story to a collection of incredible tales this race has told.
However hard it is to shrug off the sadness felt at what might have been, the magic of the marathon will endure.
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