Another year, another world record was broken at the 2024 Chicago Marathon. A year after Kelvin Kiptum broke the men’s world record with a time of 2:00:35, Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich won the marathon with an official time of 2:09:56. She’s the first woman to run under 2:10 in history, and also beat the next-fastest runner by eight minutes.
The Chicago Marathon has become a race where records are seemingly broken yearly. Four of the five fastest women’s times have been on the flat Chicago course over the past six years.
She wasn’t the only Kenyan to win at the 2024 Chicago Marathon.
Over a year after his friend, Kiptum, who died in a car crash earlier this year — blew kisses as he set a world marathon record as he won the 2023 Chicago Marathon, John Korir won the 2024 race in honor of his friend.
Korir won the race with an official time of 2:02:44.
As Korir crossed the finish line, he spread his arms wide in celebration and ran through the tape at the finish line. Korir then pointed a finger toward the sky as he celebrated his accomplishments.
He had a healthy lead over his competition toward the end of the race. As he approached two hours, he had created such a large separation from the other runners that a win was near as he approached the 26.2-mile mark.
Korir made his Chicago Marathon debut in 2022 and finished in fourth place at the 2024 Boston Marathon, finishing with a time of 2:07:40. This year’s win had been years in the making.
In 2022 and 2023, Korir third and fourth, respectively, despite racing some of the fastest times.