Ruth Chepng’etich set the second fastest time in women’s marathon history at the 2022 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, winning in 2:14:18.
The Kenyan was defending champion following her win in hot and humid conditions in 2021, but faced much more favorable temperatures this time around, and wasted no time in capitalising on the near optimal weather.
Chepng’etich flew out of the blocks with a searing first 5km that put her well inside Brigid Kosgei’s 2:14:04 pace when her fellow Kenyan broke the world record in the same city in 2019.
Victory was almost guaranteed after the first 15km, at which point she was more than a minute faster than Kosgei’s clocking at the same point in 2019.
Chepng’etich stayed inside that mark by a huge margin for the bulk of the race, going through halfway in 1:05:44, and it was only in the final few kilometers that her punishing early speed left her with too much to do to set a new record as she began her ascent up Mount Roosevelt for the final 400 meters.
As she turned for home, it became clear the clock was going to get the better of her attempt to put a line through her countrywoman’s time of 2:14:04, and she eventually stopped the clock in 2:14:18.
It was a Kenyan double in the Windy City as Benson Kipruto collected his second Abbott World Marathon Majors race win to add to his triumph in Boston in 2021.
Kipruto, whose brother Dickson Chumba won on the same streets in 2015, ran a disciplined race and stayed firmly among the leading pack of men which also contained last year’s Chicago winner Seifu Tura.
As the race reached the business end, Kipruto chose to test Tura and the only other remaining contender, John Korir. Neither could keep pace with the 31-year-old’s surge, and Kipruto charged towards victory that he secured with a 25-second cushion.
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