The date of Sunday October 13 will remain engraved in the history of the marathon. In Chicago, Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich achieved a monumental feat: she became the first woman to run the 42.195 km in less than two hours and ten minutes. At the same time, she shattered the old world record by almost two minutes.
With a time of 2 hours 09 minutes and 56 secondsaccording to the official corrected time, Ruth Chepngetich relegates to oblivion the old record established in September 2023 in Berlin by the Ethiopian Tigist Assefa in 2 hours 11 minutes and 53 seconds.
“I dedicate this record to Kelvin [Kitpum]”declared Ruth Chepngetich after the finish. The Kenyan, who won this marathon in 2023 by beating the world record in 2 hours 0 minutes and 35 seconds, died at the age of 23 in a car accident last February. “He too had broken a world record here and he could have broken one again,” she also said. The 50,000 participants observed a minute of silence in memory of Kelvin Kitpum on the starting line.
“It was my dream”
At 30, Ruth Chepngetich therefore becomes the new queen of the marathon. Far from being an unknown, she had already shone several times. World distance champion in 2019she also knew that Chicago, one of the six “majors” on the world circuit, was perfect for her: she had already won in 2022 and took second place the following year.
“I am very proud of myself. I had this world record in mind, it was my dream. And today, everything was perfect,” she said by way of explanation. “I was able to prepare perfectly for three months.”
In fact, she did not beat this record by chance, or on her current form alone. On the contrary, she built it by taking the risk of set off at an incredibly high pace, which no woman before her had ever dared to adopt. Already at the 10th kilometer, his competitors had all disappeared from his rearview mirror. Well positioned behind her pace leaders, she crossed this first mark on the basis of a race in 2 hours 07 minutes and 30 seconds. She then slowed down very slightly, but with controlled regularity, and still remaining well below the record passing times. In the process, she improves her personal best by more than four minutes.
John Korir, Marcel Hug and Catherine Debrunner also crowned
For the men, the race was more competitive. John Korir ran the first 30 kilometers in the small peloton of favorites, before accelerating which none of his adversaries were able to counter. He crossed the line almost two minutes ahead of his first pursuers, the Ethiopian Useydin Mohamed Esa (2 hours 04 minutes and 39 seconds) and the Kenyan Amos Kipruto (2 hours 04 minutes and 50 seconds).
The wheelchair race was won by the Olympic champions from Paris, the Swiss Marcel Hug and Catherine Debrunner. The first, star of his discipline, won the event for the fifth time, in 1 hour 25 minutes and 54 seconds. The second, among the women, broke away from the first kilometers and took the race alone in the lead to finish in 1 hour 36 minutes and 09 seconds.
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