Broken records were the theme of the day at the 45th running of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Headlined by a stunning new men’s marathon world record, the largest finisher field in event history included four course records and the race’s millionth finisher. Kelvin Kiptum (KEN) became the first man to run a sub-2:01 marathon in an officially sanctioned competition, breaking the tape in a world-record time of 2:00:35*. Course records fell in every professional division of the race, with Sifan Hassan (NED) setting a new women’s course record in 2:13:44, Marcel Hug (SUI) breaking his own record set last year in the men’s wheelchair race in 1:22:37 and Catherine Debrunner (SUI) writing her name in the race’s history books with a new women’s wheelchair course record of 1:38:44.
Kiptum, who came into the race with the second and third fastest times in history, broke away from the rest of the field just before the 10K mark, taking only his pacers and countryman Daniel Mateiko with him. The pair reached the half marathon behind world-record pace, but Kiptum lived up to his reputation of finishing fast. He ran the 19th mile in a blistering 4:21, leaving Mateiko behind and setting off on a solo mission to make history.
As he made the final turn onto Columbus Drive, Kiptum began to sprint as he pumped up the already-roaring crowd. He then broke the tape and smashed Eliud Kipchoge’s record by 34 seconds.
“I knew I was in good shape to run a fast race,” said Kiptum, who told reporters he knew the record was possible by the time he approached 5K. “Now I can go take a little rest and resume my training.”
Kiptum’s world record is the sixth set in Chicago, but the first in the men’s race since Khalid Khannouchi in 1999.
“It was time to bring it back to Chicago,” said Executive Race Director Carey Pinkowski. “This is a great sporting community. There is a great energy and a great crowd, and the weather was pretty near perfect.”
2022 Bank of America Chicago Marathon champion Benson Kipruto (KEN) finished second in 2:04:02, while Bashir Abdi (BEL) took third in 2:04:32.
Training partners Conner Mantz and Clayton Young became the first two American men to achieve the Paris 2024 qualifying standard by running under 2:08:10. Mantz finished sixth in 2:07:47. Young was seventh in 2:08:00.
“It was really a good run,” said Mantz, who now is tied for the fourth fastest man in American history. “I had a goal to run under 2:07, but it was a B goal to run a personal record and run under 2:08:10.”
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