Week in Review: Epic run raises doubts
Some question marathon world record by Chepngetich due to plethora of doping cases in Kenya
Five days ago, I posted a report on Sunday morning’s Chicago Marathon in which I enthusiastically wrote that women’s marathon running “took another gargantuan leap forward” when Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya “clocked a mind-blowing time of 2 hours 9 minutes 56 seconds” in the race in the Windy City.
I noted that her time crushed the world record of 2:11:53 that had been set by Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia in last year’s Berlin Marathon, and that Assefa’s performance had obliterated the previous global best of 2:14:04 that Kenyan Brigid Kosgei had run in Chicago in 2019.
“I feel so great. I am much proud of myself, and I thank God for the victory and world record,” Chepngetich said in a post-race interview on the NBC affiliate in Chicago. “This is my dream that has come true. I fight alone, thinking about the world record, and I have fulfilled it. And I am much grateful.”
I posted a link to my report on the Track and Field Fanatics Facebook page, and one of the group’s moderators soon commented that Chepngetich was the story of the race “for many reasons and not all positive. It’s getting to be a pain seeing how many Kenyans are breaking records like the flick of a switch, and like a flick of a switch, they are caught taking illegal substances. A 2.09 from a woman (without a gram of prejudice) has never been thought of by an expert. If this goes through untouched, more than half of the women in the running arena will ask themselves, ‘What’s the point?’ ”
While I did not agree with those comments, which implied that the 30-year-old Chepngetich must have been taking performance enhancing drugs to have run so fast, it took me a little while to respond to them.
My initial comment was as follows: As someone who has followed track and field since the early 1970s, I am aware that PEDs can be an issue in the sport. However, I am not so cynical that I am going to assume that an athlete is automatically guilty of doping when they do something special.
That led to several back-and-forth comments between the two of us in which things became heated enough — sans any profanity or name calling — that the page administrator asked me to “Please watch your words.”
It’s been three days since I received that suggestion. And while I still disagree with the gist of the moderator’s original comments, I have since come to realize that his questioning the legitimacy of Chepngetich’s performance was not isolated. That a significant number of people who follow the sport of track and field contend that a variety of factors, including the inordinately high number of Kenyan runners who have been suspended for doping violations in recent years, made it extremely difficult for them to take Chepngetich’s incredible effort at face value.
Athletics Weekly is one publication that has weighed in on Chepngetich’s performance. Citiusmag.com is an online site that has done likewise. And Toni Reavis of tonireavis.com has written a very well-researched post in which he delves into the history of the women’s marathon and notes there have been numerous races in the past when the world record in the event was lowered by a substantial margin.
When it comes to those questioning the validity of Chepngetich’s performance, one of the most common arguments is that her 2:09:56 clocking cut nearly four and a half minutes off her previous personal best of 2:14:18 that she ran in winning the Chicago Marathon in 2022. They contend it would be highly unusual for someone who had already run such a fast time to make a four-plus minute improvement.
Another argument alludes to the fact that Chepngetich’s opening five-kilometer split of 15:00 in Chicago was faster that her personal best of 15:26.70 that she ran for 5,000 meters on the track in 2022.
They add that her 1:04:16 clocking at the halfway point in Chicago was only 14 seconds slower than her personal best of 1:04:02 that she had run in winning a half marathon in Istanbul in 2021.
While those points are factually correct, one counter-argument could state that she has not run a 5,000-meter race on the track since her 15:26.70 clocking in April of 2022, and that performance came in Nairobi, where the elevation of more than 5,400 feet (1,646 meters) severely impedes performances in races of 3,000 meters and longer.
Another counter-argument could point out that she had a personal best of 2:17:08 in the marathon when she set her half marathon best in 2021. Obviously, she is a much faster runner now than she was back then.
When it comes to Chepngetich improving her personal best by nearly four and a half minutes in Chicago, Assefa lowered her personal best from 2:15:37 in Berlin in 2022 to 2:11:53 on the same course a year later. However, I do not recall there being this kind of pushback when that happened.
One could point out that because Assefa hails from a country that does not appear to have the performance enhancing drug issues that are so embedded in Kenya, her large improvement and world record might have been given the benefit of the doubt.
The performance by Chepngetich was also bound to raise more eyebrows than that of Assefa because she broke the once-magical 2:10 barrier with her record run.
Until December of 1967, no man had ever run under 2:10 in the marathon. And as recently as the start of the 1990s, only 54 men in history had run faster than Chepngetich’s time on Sunday. In addition, 1972 Olympic champion Frank Shorter of the U.S., the top-ranked marathon runner in by world by Track & Field News from 1971-73, never broke 2:10 during his illustrious career that also included a silver medal in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.
The ever-evolving, high-tech shoes that elite competitors have worn for the past four or five years have undoubtedly played a part in the sheer volume of incredibly fast marathon times in recent seasons. But until there is a substantial drop in the number of runners from Kenya testing positive for banned substances, an epic performance by a Kenyan athlete such as Chepngetich will continue to be questioned by a significant number of distance running fans.
Not unprecedented: Some of the people who believe that Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich’s effort of 2:09:56 in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday could not have occurred without her having used performance enhancing drugs point out that the time difference between the world record of 2:00:35 in the men’s marathon and Chepngetich’s mark is now 9 minutes and 21 seconds, the smallest it has ever been.
However, the gap was only 26 seconds larger in 2003 after Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain lowered her world record from 2:17:18 to 2:15:25 in the London Marathon while the men’s mark of 2:05:38 was held by Moroccan-born American Khalid Khannouchi.
Making it hurt: I’m not sure if running 2:17:32 in a marathon is ever easy, but Sutume Kebede of Ethiopia definitely did it the hard — and I’m guessing painful — way when she finished second in the women’s race of the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Kebede, who had run a personal best and yearly world-leading time of 2:15:55 in winning the Tokyo Marathon in March, was only two seconds behind Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya when she went through 10 kilometers in 30:16. And she was 14 seconds off the lead when she clocked 1:00:59 at 20 kilometers.
While Chepngetich would race on to lower the world record to 2:09:56, the blistering early pace really began to take a toll on Kebede after 20 kilometers as she was 50 seconds back of the Kenyan when she came through the halfway point in 1:04:30. She was nearly two minutes down when she passed 30 kilometers in 1:33:46 and she was more than six minutes off the lead when she came through passed 40 kilometers in 2:09:24.
One way to gain an appreciation for what Kebede endured comes when you look at her five-kilometer splits.
After zipping through the first 5,000 meters in 15:01, she ran the next seven five-kilometer segments of the race in 15:15, 15:23, 15:20, 16:08, 16:39, 17:22, and 18:16. She then ran the final 2.195 kilometers in 8:08, which was 18:32 pace for five kilometers.
If you break down the first 40 kilometers of her race into four 10-kilometer segments, Kebede’s splits were 30:16, 30:43, 32:47, and 35:38. And perhaps the best way to illustrate her ordeal comes when you consider that she ran the second half of the race in 1:13:02 after running the first half in 1:04:30.
Superb second half: While Ruth Chepngetich’s world record of 2:09:56 in the women’s race was the headline-grabbing story of the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, compatriot John Korir produced a particularly noteworthy effort when he won the men’s contest in a personal best of 2:02:44 to move to sixth on the all-time performer list.
Korir’s performance came just over a year after Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum had lowered the world record to 2:00:35 in Chicago and it occurred eight months after Kiptum and his coach, Gervais Hakazimana, were killed in a car crash in February.
The 27-year-old Korir began the Chicago Marathon as the No. 6-ranked man in the field with a best of 2:05:01, but he finished it with the 12th-fastest time in history after running the second half of the race nearly two minutes faster than the first.
“We were going for the win,” he said. “We’re not going for the time. But you know, my brother, Wesley, and my wife say ‘You are ready. Just believe in yourself and you can make it.’ ”
Korir, who is now one of 10 men to have run under 2:03 for the marathon, finished nearly two minutes in front of second-place Mohamed Esa of Ethiopia, who ran a personal best of 2:04:39. Esa was followed by 2022 London Marathon champion Amos Kipruto of Kenya, who placed third in 2:04.50.
The pace during the early part of the men’s race was not particularly fast by today’s standards as Dawit Wolde of Ethiopia followed a pair of pacesetters through five kilometers in 14:43, 10 kilometers in 29:27 (14:44), and 15 kilometers in 44:15 (14:48).
Daniel Ebenyo of Kenya, who was making his marathon debut after winning the silver medal in the 10,000 meters in the World Athletics Championships last year, led a 10-runner lead pack through 20 kilometers in 59:03. But Korir was at the front of the group when he came through the halfway point in 1:02:19, 25 kilometers in 1:13:47, and 30 kilometers in 1:28:18.
Korir had covered the five-kilometer segment from 25-30 kilometers in 14:31 and an ensuing split of 14:01 left him 29 seconds in front of Kipruto and three other runners when he came through 35 kilometers in 1:42:19. Ebenyo was in sixth at 1:42:57.
He led Kipruto and Esa by a minute and 31 second when he came through 40 kilometers in 1:56:27 — after running the previous 10 kilometers in 28:09 — and he continued to extend his lead during the remainder of the race as he ran the second half of the contest in 1:00:25 after running the first half in 1:02:19.
Behind Esa and Kipruto, Vincent Ngetich of Kenya placed fourth in 2:05:16, followed by Ebenyo in fifth in 2:06:04, and Kyohei Hosoya of Japan in 2:07:20.
CJ Albertson of the U.S. finished seventh in a personal best of 2:08:17 and Toshiki Sadakata of Japan placed eighth in 2:08:22.
“I was thinking about him,” Korir said about Kiptum. “And I say, ‘If the last year Kiptum was able to run [under] 2:01, why not me?’ So I had to believe in myself and try to do my best.”
Due for a win?: When Mohamed Esa of Ethiopia finished second in the men’s race of the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, it marked the third time during his relatively young career that he has been the runner-up in a World Marathon Majors race.
His first runner-up finish came in the 2023 Tokyo Marathon when his 2:05:22 clocking left him inches behind compatriot Chalu Deso, who was credited with the same time.
His second took place in the Boston Marathon in April when his 2:06:58 effort left him 41 seconds back of countryman Sisay Lemma, who ran 2:06:17.
He then lowered his personal best to 2:04:39 in Chicago while finishing second to Kenyan John Korir, who clocked 2:02:44 after entering the race with a best of 2:05:01.
The 24-year-old Esa’s previous best of 2:05:05 had come in his debut marathon in 2022 when he placed fifth in Amsterdam.
In addition to his second-place finishes in Tokyo, Boston, and Chicago, and his fifth in Amsterdam, Esa placed eighth in 2:05:40 in the Valencia Marathon in Spain last December after he dropped out of the Chicago Marathon two months earlier.
Sweeping the competition: BYU swept the top five places and had seven of the top 10 finishers in the men’s race of the Dellinger Invitational cross country meet in Springfield, Oregon, last Saturday.
BYU, the No. 2-ranked team in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, totaled 15 points to the 97 of No. 22 Oregon in second place.
Gonzaga finished third with 101 points, followed by Montana State with 102 and No. 25 Portland with 159.
Senior Casey Clinger, who had missed last cross country season due to an injury, paced BYU’s victory with a winning time of 22:54.8 over the 8,000-meter course at Pine Ridge Golf Club.
He was followed across the finish line by teammates James Corrigan in 22:55.9, Aidan Trotter in 22:56.4, Creed Thompson in 23:00.1, and Joey Nokes in 23:00.5.
The Cougars had previously won the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Sept. 27 with a 48-120 victory over No. 4 Iowa State.
Superior depth prevails: Senior Maddy Elmore of host Oregon won the women’s race in the Dellinger Invitational, but Utah ran away with the team title.
Elmore clocked 19:40.2 over the 6,000-meter course at Pine Ridge Golf Club in Springfield, but Utah, the No. 6-ranked team in the USTFCCCA poll, had five of the next eight finishers while on its way to a 25-53 victory over second-place and No. 12-ranked Oregon.
Nebraska placed third with 105 points, followed by Oregon State with 135 and UCLA with 148.
Sophomore Erin Vringer placed second in 19:49.8 for Utah and senior teammate McKaylie Caesar finished third in 19:58.0.
Utah’s Nos. 3-5 runners were senior Morgan Jenson in fifth place in 20:06.7, sophomore Katarzyna Nowakowska in sixth in 20:06.7, and sophomore Anastasia Peters in ninth in 20:16.6.
Sophomore Berlyn Schultz paced Nebraska by finishing fourth in 20:06.2.
Strong rebound: Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura High School in California set a course record in the Clovis Invitational last Saturday after having finished fifth in Woodbridge Cross Country Classic three weeks earlier.
Engelhardt, who has committed to North Carolina State University, clocked 16:24.2 over the 5,000-meter course at Woodward Park in Fresno to finish a little more than seven seconds ahead of fellow senior Rylee Blade of Santiago High in Corona and trim 6.1 seconds off the previous course record of 16:30.3 that had been set by Claudia Lane of Malibu in 2017.
Blade, the Woodbridge Classic champion, timed a personal best of 16:31.3 while finishing second behind Engelhardt. Junior Summer Wilson of Irvine, who had led JSerra Catholic of San Juan Capistrano to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Division 4 team title last year, placed third in 17:08.8, followed by senior Hanne Thomsen of Montgomery in Santa Rosa, who timed 17:10.4.
Buchanan High of Clovis, which was the No. 6-ranked team in the nation by dyestat.com entering the meet, placed first with 65 points, followed by No. 9 JSerra Catholic with 104, No. 5 Santiago with 119, and No. 3 Ventura with 153.
Engelhardt and Blade, who had finished 1-2 in the championship race of the Clovis Invitational last year, led the field through the first mile in 5:12.7, with Wilson running in third at 5:17.4.
Engelhardt and Blade were virtually inseparable when Engelhardt came through 2.1 miles in 11:14.0 and they were 25 seconds up on third-place Maya DeBrouwer of La Canada. But Engelhardt began to move away from the Florida State-bound Blade with a kilometer left in the race before crossing the finish line with a time that was 15-plus seconds faster than her 16:39.3 clocking in last year’s race.
Engelhardt wrote via text that making a move with a kilometer left “wasn’t necessarily my plan, but one of our assistant coaches was at the 1k mark and told me to go then. I trusted his judgement because he could see what condition Rylee was in so I just went with it and tried to sustain it until the end.”
She added that the race was important to her “because I felt like I had something to prove, but in the grand scheme of things this was not my focus by any means.”
Buchanan did not place a runner among the first 10 finishers, but it had four in the top 20.
Sophomore Molly Sundgren paced Buchanan by finishing 11th in 17:44.1 and junior teammate Kynzlee Buckley was 15th in 17:50.5 for the Bears, who finished a point behind team champion Santiago in the Division 1 race of last year’s CIF state meet held on the same Woodward Park course.
Making a move: After defeating a pair of nationally-ranked teams in winning the boys’ team title in the championship race of the Clovis Invitational in Fresno last Saturday, Beckman High of Irvine was the No. 5-ranked squad in the national rankings released by dyestat.com on Thursday.
Led by junior Mason Nguyen, who finished 11th with a time of 15:05.0 over the 5,000-meter course at Woodward Park, Beckman totaled 83 points to finish ahead of second-place Jesuit of Carmichael, California, with 97, and in front of third-place Crater of Central Point, Oregon, with 116.
Martin Luther King of Riverside placed fourth with 148 points, followed by Glendora with 177.
Jesuit and Crater entered the meet as the No. 13- and 5-ranked teams in the U.S. and they are seventh and eighth, respectively, in the latest national rankings.
Crater seniors Josiah Tostenson and Tayvon Kitchen placed first and third with times of 14:41.3 and 14:44.5 for the Patriots. But their team could not match the depth of Beckman, which had a solid 33.6-second gap between its No. 1 and 5 runners.
After Nguyen, sophomore Ryan Barris finished 20th in 15:21.5 for Beckman, with senior teammate Nathan Horrocks placing 22nd in 15:23.7.
Senior Anthony Barrera and junior Christian Weber rounded out the scoring for Beckman when they finished 29th in 15:31.2 and 38th in 15:38.6, respectively.
The top individual finisher from the Southern Section — as well as from California — was senior Griffin Kushen of Tesoro High in Los Flores, who placed second in 14:43.8.
Kushen was part of a 15-runner lead pack when he went through the first mile in 4:42.1 and he was in fifth place when he passed the 2.1-mile mark in 10:07.7, three seconds back of first-place Tostenson at 10:04.6.