Defending champions Ruth Chepngetich and Seifu Tura lead the line-up at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, a World Athletics Elite Platinum Label race on 9 October.
Chepngetich won the world marathon title in Doha and the Chicago Marathon in 2:22:31 after starting on world record pace in the first half of the race. The Kenyan marathon runner set her lifetime best of 2:17:08 in Dubai in 2019, becoming the fourth fastest runner in history. Chepngetich could not finish the race at the World Championships in Eugene, but she has won six of her eight marathon races. She claimed her most recent win in Nagoya earlier this year, improving the course record to 2:17:18. She set PBs over different distances in the 5000m on the track (15:26.70), on the 10 km on the road at the Great Manchester Run with 30:29 in 2022 and in the half marathon with 1:04:02 in Istanbul in 2021.
Chepngetich will face Ruti Aga, Celestine Chepchirchir, Vivian Kiplagat, and Haven Hailu Desse.
Chepchirchir won the 2019 Cape Town Marathon and improved her PB by a few minutes to 2:20:10, finishing fourth at the Seoul Marathon last April.
Kiplagat won two editions of the Milano Marathon in 2019 in 2:22:25 and in 2022 in her lifetime best of 2:20:18. She trains with Judith Korir Jeptum, who won the Paris Marathon and the world silver medal at the World Championships in Eugene.
Kiplagat attempted to keep pace with Chepngetich during last year’s edition of the Chicago Marathon before crossing the finish line in fifth place in 2:29:14. In her career, Kiplagat won the Abu Dhabi Marathon in 2:21:11 and finished third at the Half Marathon in Copenhagen in 1:06:07.
Aga has won just one marathon in her career in Tokyo in 2020 in 2:20:40 and reached the podium in six other races, including her third place in New York in 2019 in 2:25:51 and three times in Berlin (third in 2016 in 2:24:41, second in 2017 in 2:20:41, in 2018 in 2:18:34).
The Ethiopian hopes are also carried by Haven Hailu Desse, who has contested just four marathon races this year. She made her marathon debut in 2020, taking the third spot in Mumbai in 2:28:56 and finished third in Amsterdam in 2021, improving her PB to 2:20:19. Desse won the first marathon race of her career in Rotterdam in 2:22:01.
Another athlete to watch is Waganesh Makasha, who set her PB of 2:22:45 in Dubai and finished fourth in Prague at 2:27:57 last May. The Ethiopian athlete will run her first race on US soil.
The strong US contingent is led by…
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