Ruth Chepng’etich absolutely dominated on the streets of Chicago on Sunday morning.
Chepng’etich shattered the world record by almost two minutes at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. The 30-year-old Kenyan won the women’s marathon in a record time of 2:09:56. It marked her third win at the Chicago Marathon in the last four years.
Chepng’etich broke the world record set by Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa, who ran the Berlin Marathon in 2:11:53 last year. Chepng’etich is now the first woman in history to run a marathon in under 2:10.
“I feel so great. I’m very proud of myself,” she said, via The Associated Press. “This is my dream. I fought a lot, thinking about the world record.”
By comparison, Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands won gold in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics earlier this summer. She finished with an Olympics record time of 2:22:55.
On the men’s side, John Korir won by nearly two full minutes. The Kenyan finished in a time of 2:02:44, which beat Ethiopia’s Huseydin Mohamed Esa’s time of 2:04:39. Both times were significantly faster than the Olympic record pace that Tamirat Tola set when he won the men’s marathon in Paris.
Both Korir and Chepng’etich honored former men’s world record holder Kelvin Kiptum on Sunday. Kiptum won the Chicago Marathon last year and set the world record by 34 seconds. He and his coach died in a car accident in February when they hit a tree near a training area in Kenya. He was 24.
Kiptum was expected to be a major contender at the Olympics earlier this year, too. He is the only man to break the 2:02 mark in a marathon three times. He was reportedly attempting to become the first man to break the two-hour mark at the Rotterdam Marathon in April, too.
“The world record has come back to Kenya,” Chepng’etich said, via The Associated Press. “I dedicate this world record to Kelvin Kiptum.”
CJ Albertson was the top American on the men’s side, and Susanna Sullivan was the top American woman in the race. Both finished in seventh.