History made: Kenya's Ruth Chepngetich destroys marathon world record in Chicago

Ruth Chepngetich

History made: Kenya's Ruth Chepngetich destroys marathon world record in Chicago

Funmilayo Fameso 18:33 - 13.10.2024

2019 world champion Ruth Chepngetich ran a groundbreaking race to win the Chicago Marathon in a new world record time.

In one of the greatest performances in athletics history, Kenya's Ruth Chepngetich has become the first female ever to run a sub-2:10, after clocking 2:09:57 to win the women's category at the Chicago Marathon.

Chepngetich ran 64:16-65:41 split to obliterate the previous world record held by Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa at 2:11:53, which is an astonishing 1 minute, 56 seconds faster, thus making the Kenyan the first woman in history under 2:10.

In addition, she finished 10th place overall in the men's and women's categories combined, hence speaking great volumes on how groundbreaking her feat was in Chicago.

Here is how Chepngetich split the 2024 Chicago Marathon en route to her incredible 2:09:57 world record.

5K – 15:00

10K – 15:14

15K – 15:18

20K – 15:19

25K – 15:26

30K – 15:32

35K – 15:43

40K – 15:39

Then closed hard to get under 2:10.

Chepngetich is the 2019 world champion in the marathon, and is a three time winner of the Chicago Marathon, having previously won in 2021 and 2022. She also holds the third-fastest mark of all time in the half-marathon at 1 hour 4 minutes and 2 seconds.

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