Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich shattered the women’s marathon world record this Sunday, winning in Chicago with a time of 2h 09min 57sec.
She is the first woman to go below the symbolic bar of 2h10. In Chicago, Ruth Chepngetich (30 years old) shattered the women’s world record this Sunday by winning in 2h09’57”. The Kenyan beat by almost two minutes (1’56”) the previous record set by the Ethiopian Tigst Assefa in September 2023 in Berlin (2h11’53”). And she achieved her incredible performance just a year after the record set among men by her compatriot Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a road accident last February.
“I dedicate this record to Kelvin, he too had broken a world record here and he could have broken one again,” confided Ruth Chepngetich upon arrival, who also welcomed her achievement. “I am very proud of myself. I had this world record in mind, it was my dream, and today everything was perfect: the weather, and my preparation,” added the athlete whose personal best over the distance was 2h14’18’ ‘.
World marathon champion in 2019, Ruth Chepngetich, who succeeded the Dutch Sifan Hassan, had already won the Chicago marathon, which is one of the six “majors” of the season, twice in 2021 and 2022. And she achieved the pass of three in the most beautiful way with this record which will go down in the history of the marathon.
Among the men, the Kenyan John Korir, who broke away around ten kilometers from the finish, scored a solo victory by crossing the line in 2h02’43” with more than a minute and a half ahead on his first pursuers.
