The Kenyan will likely be concentrating on her third victory in Chicago while Ethiopia’s Birhanu Legese leads the boys’s area
This weekend, all eyes will likely be on Chicago as the town hosts the Financial institution of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday (October 13), promising an exciting showdown amongst top-tier athletes.
Within the ladies’s competitors, Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich, a former Chicago Marathon winner in 2021 and 2022 and the fourth-fastest lady in marathon historical past, is about to return to the difficult course, which winds by 29 neighbourhoods.
The 30-year-old enters because the quickest lady on this 12 months’s line-up after profitable the title in 2022 by operating her quickest time of two:14:18. On the time, she was 14 seconds wanting Brigid Kosgei’s world file of two:14:04, earlier than Tigist Assefa (2:11:53) and Sifan Hassan (2:13:44) went faster in 2023.
The 2019 world champion secured a second-place end in Chicago final 12 months behind Sifan Hassan.
But, it won’t be a straightforward run to victory for Chepngetich. Ethiopia’s Sutume Kebede, recent off her Tokyo Marathon win, arrives with the quickest marathon time of 2024, having ran 2:15:55 in Tokyo.
Sutume Asefa Kebede (Getty)
Kebede has had a stellar 12 months, setting a file time of 64:37 on the Aramco Houston Half Marathon – the fastest-ever ladies’s half marathon time on US soil.
Chepngetich and Kebede will likely be joined by Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei, who has beforehand taken titles on the New York Metropolis Marathon in 2019 and London Marathon in 2021. Jepkosgei completed third this 12 months in London the place she clocked her private greatest of two:16:24.
American athletes Keira D’Amato (2:19:12) and Betsy Saina (2:19:17) be part of the checklist of athletes. D’Amato, a former American file holder within the marathon, is making a comeback as a competitor after working as a commentator. In the meantime, Saina, who needed to withdraw from the Chicago Marathon in 2019 as a consequence of sickness, returns to make her mark.
The boys’s race may also characteristic a extremely aggressive area with Ethiopia’s Birhanu Legese main the cost. Legese, who recorded a formidable 2:02:48 on the 2019 Berlin Marathon is the quickest on paper.
Birhanu Legese wins the 2020 Tokyo Marathon (Getty)
A two-time Tokyo marathon champion, this will likely be his second time tackling the Chicago course after ending tenth in 2018 with a time of two:08:41. Most lately, Legese took third place on the 2024 Rotterdam Marathon.
Legese will likely be up in opposition to robust competitors, significantly from Kenya’s Amos Kipruto and Vincent Ngetich, who each maintain private bests of two:03:13.
Kipruto, a bronze medallist on the World Championships in Doha 2019, claimed victory on the 2022 London Marathon. Ngetich received bronze within the Tokyo marathon earlier this 12 months.
Amos Kipruto (Mark Shearman)
Ethiopia’s Dawit Wolde is one other contender to observe, having set a private greatest of two:03:48 on the 2023 Valencia Marathon, the place he positioned third. Wolde additionally secured a win in Prague in 2019, additional proving his marathon capabilities.
Japan is well-represented on this 12 months’s race with Kyohei Hosoya and Toshiki Sadakata becoming a member of the sector, holding private bests of two:06:35 and a pair of:07:05, respectively.
The American staff contains Zach Panning, with a greatest time of two:09:28, and Brian Shrader, who has run 2:09:46, including much more depth to an already stacked competitors.
Whereas no British athletes are entered within the elite males’s or ladies’s fields, the wheelchair races will see some robust British expertise.
Eden Rainbow-Cooper (Getty)
Eden Rainbow-Cooper, who claimed victory on the Boston Marathon in April, is gearing up for one more massive efficiency in Chicago.
On the boys’s facet, British racers Johnboy Smith, Simon Lawson, and Rob Smith will battle it out with a robust area, together with Switzerland’s world file holder, Marcel Hug.
The Chicago Marathon will begin and end in Grant Park starting at 7:30am (12:30pm GMT) on Sunday, October 13.
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