World record in marathon falls in Chicago
World record in marathon falls in Chicago
Kiptum slashes 34 seconds from men's best, Hassan runs second-fastest women's time in history
A race that began with Kelvin Kiptum shooting for a course best ended with the 23-year-old Kenyan crushing the world record in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday morning.
Running in only the third marathon of his career, Kiptum ran 2 hours 35 seconds to better the previous world record of 2:01:09 set by countryman Eliud Kipchoge in the Berlin Marathon in September of last year.
“A world record was not in my mind today,” Kiptum said in a post-race interview on an NBC affiliate in Chicago. “But that’s come definitely. But I knew one day, one time, I’d be a world record-holder.”
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands won the women’s division in 2:13:44, the second-fastest performance in history by a woman, but the indefatigable Dutchwoman’s effort was overshadowed by Kiptum’s world record.
Although Kiptum said his pre-race focus was on the 2:03:45 course record set by Kenyan Dennis Kimetto in 2013, a world record appeared to be possible as he had run 2:01:53 in winning his marathon debut in Valencia, Spain in December of last year before clocking 2:01:25 in winning the London Marathon on April 23 of this year.
He had run the second half of the race in London in a scorching 59:45 that included a 27:50 split from 30-40 kilometers. And though he was two seconds slower in those two categories on Sunday, he ran the first half of the race in 1:00:48, which was 52 seconds faster than he ran in London.
With temperature readings in the low 40 degrees Fahrenheit (5 or 6 Celsius) and just a slight breeze, the race began in near-ideal conditions.
With the help of three pacesetters, Kiptum and defending champion Benson Kipruto of Kenya led a seven-runner lead pack through five kilometers in 14:26. But the lead group was down to Kiptum and Kenyan Daniel Kibet Mateiko when the pair came through 10 kilometers in 28:42 with Kipruto part of a five-man chase pack that was 30 seconds behind them.
Kiptum and Mateiko, who was making his marathon debut after serving as a pacesetter for Kiptum for much of his race in London, proceeded to pass through 15 kilometers in 43:09, 20 kilometers in 57:39, and the halfway point in 1:00:48.
They were a little more than a minute and a half ahead of a seven-runner chase group led by Dawit Wolde of Ethiopia (1:02:20) at that point in the race. Their advantage had grown to a minute and 45 seconds when they passed 25 kilometers in 1:12:04, but it had been decreased by eight seconds when they came through 30 kilometers in 1:26:31.
However, Kiptum broke away from Mateiko about seven minutes later and he had a 49-second lead over his countryman after he came through 35 kilometers in 1:40:22 following a scorching five-kilometer split of 13:51.
Mateiko was a minute and 43 seconds ahead of the chase pack led by Kenyan John Korir, Belgian Bashir Abdi, and Kipruto at that point in the race. But the 25-year-old runner later dropped out.
Although Kiptum’s eighth five-kilometer segment of 14:01 was 10 seconds slower that what he ran from 30 to 35 kilometers, his time of 1:54:23 at the 40-kilometer mark projected to a final time of 2:00:40. He then ran the last 2.195 kilometers of the race in 6:12 — just as he had in London — for a time that slashed 34 seconds from the world record and made him the first man in history to run under two hours and one minute in a marathon race.
Kipchoge had run 1:59:40.2 for the marathon distance in the Ineos 1:59 Challenge in Vienna in 2019, but the time did not count as an official world record because standard rules for pacing and fluids were not followed and it was not an open event.
Kipruto’s performance, which translates to an average pace of approximately 2:51.5 per kilometer or 4:36.0 per mile, was so sensational that he finished nearly three and a half minutes ahead of second-place Kipruto, whose time of 2:04:02 cut 22 seconds off his previous best of 2:04:24 he had run in winning in Chicago last year.
Abdi, the bronze medalist in the OIympic Games in 2021, placed third in 2:04:32, followed by Korir in 2:05:09, and Seifu Tura Abdiwak of Ethiopia in 2:05:29.
The next four finishers were Americans as Conner Mantz finished sixth in 2:07:47, followed by Clayton Young in 2:08:00, Galen Rupp in 2:08:48, and Sam Chelanga in 2:08:50.
Mantz, Young, and Chelanga all ran personal bests, as did Takashi Ichida of Japan, who finished 10th in 2:08:57.
Prior to Kiptum’s performance on Sunday, it had been more than 21 years since a world record in the men’s marathon had been set on a course other than Berlin. The previous eight world records, including the first sub-2:05, -2:04, -2:03, and -2:02 efforts, had been run on the flat, hyper-fast course in the German capital.
Kiptum was so elated with his time that he leaped into the arms of Carey Pinkowski, the executive race director of the Chicago Marathon, shortly after crossing the finish line.
“I was thinking of a course record,” he said, ‘but fortunately, a world record…I’m very so much happy.”
In contrast to the men’s race, in which Kiptum ran the second half faster than the first, the first 25 kilometers of the women’s contest were run at world-record pace before slowing.
Tigist Assefa of Ethiopia had crushed the previous women’s world record of 2:14:04 with a stunning 2:11:53 clocking in Berlin two weeks ago. Yet two-time defending champion Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya and Hassan were on 2:11:09 pace when they came through 10 kilometers in 31:05 and Chepngetich was on 2:11:18 pace when she clocked 1:02:14 at 20 kilometers.
The 30-year-old Hassan, who had run 2:18:33 in winning her debut marathon against a stellar women’s field in London in April, was two seconds behind Chepngetich at 20 kilometers and she was six seconds back when Chepngetich came through the halfway point in 1:05:42.
However, she was just ahead of Chepngetich when she came through 25 kilometers in 1:18:06 after running her previous five kilometers in 15:50. And though her next five kilometers took 15:54, her slowest of the race up to that point, she had a 10-second lead over Chepngetich when she came through 30 kilometers in 1:34:00.
Although her pace continued to slow, she had a 31-second lead over Chepngetich when she passed through 35 kilometers in 1:50:17 and her advantage had grown to a minute and 16 seconds when she came through the 40-kilometer mark in 2:06:36.
She then ran the final 2.195 kilometers in 7:08 to cross the finish line in 2:13:44 to better the previous course record of 2:14:04 that was set by Kenyan Brigid Kosgei in 2019 and had been the world record until Assefa’s scintillating performance in Berlin.
“I’m so happy,” a beaming Hassan said after the race. “But like the last five kilometers, I was telling myself, never run again, a marathon, because they’re so painful.”
Hassan’s time, which lowered the European record of 2:15:25 that had been a world record when it was set by Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain in the 2003 London Marathon, left her nearly two minutes in front of Chepngetich.
The Kenyan’s 2:15:37 clocking was the second fastest of her career and tied for the seventh fastest women’s time in history.
Megertu Alemu of Ethiopia and Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya set personal bests of 2:17:09 and 2:17:23 in finishing in third and fourth place, respectively.
Alemu’s time moved her to 11th on the all-time women’s performer list and Jepkosgei moved into a tie for 14th.
In addition, the times by Chepngetich, Alemu, and Jepkosgei were the fastest ever for their respective places.
Tadu Teshome of Ethiopia placed fifth in 2:20:04, followed by countrywomen Genzebe Dibaba in 2:21:47 and American record-holder Emily Sisson in 2:22:09.
The next three finishers ran personal bests as Olympic bronze medalist Molly Seidel of the U.S. ran 2:23:07, Rose Harvey of Great Britain clocked 2:23:21, and American Sara Vaughn timed 2:23:24.
Hassan’s performance added to her well-earned reputation as the most versatile women’s runner in the world as she had won a bronze medal in the 1,500 meters and a silver medal in the 5,000 in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August. Those medals had come after Hassan had fallen to the track with about 25 meters left in the 10,000 on the opening night of the global championships when she had been trying to hold off eventual winner Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia for the victory.
Her runner-up finish in the 5,000, which had come behind Faith Kipyegon of Kenya, came 43 days ago.
“I’m very, very, very happy about my training and I really trained for it,” she said of the Chicago Marathon. “I don’t know if six weeks is enough, but I have trained so hard. I think that’s why I am dizzy, a little bit too cold, and I see I ran an amazing time… I never thought I would run like that.”
