(Reuters) -Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich placed on a efficiency for the ages as she obliterated the ladies’s marathon world file in Chicago on Sunday, taking practically two minutes off the earlier greatest to win in an unofficial time of two hours, 9 minutes and 56 seconds.
Chepngetich ditched the competitors by the midway mark and ran by a refrain of cheers by the ultimate straight as she claimed her third title in Chicago and crushed Ethiopian Tigst Assefa’s earlier file of two:11:53, set final yr in Berlin.
Ethiopia’s Sutume Kebede crossed the road seven minutes and 36 seconds later whereas Kenyan Irine Cheptai (2:17:51) was third.
“This is my dream that has come true,” stated Chepngetich, whose time was initially recorded as 2:09:57 however was later adjusted.
Her compatriot John Korir gained on the lads’s aspect in 2:02:44.
Chepngetich set a blistering tempo from the beginning, working the primary 5 kilometres in quarter-hour flat and by the midway mark she had constructed a 14-second cushion between herself and Kebede.
Tv commentators have been astonished as she grinded by the course, evaluating her try at a sub-2:10 marathon to the moon touchdown, and she or he solely appeared to achieve momentum as she sprinted by the ultimate two miles.
Chepngetich, the 2019 world champion, hunched over in utter exhaustion after breaking the tape and devoted her efficiency to compatriot Kelvin Kiptum, who broke the lads’s world file a yr in the past in Chicago and died in a automobile crash 4 months later.
“World record was in my mind,” she stated in televised remarks. “Chicago, as I said in the press, is like home.”
The day started with a second of silence on the beginning line for Kiptum, who ran final yr in 2:00:35, as runners took off underneath pristine situations within the Windy Metropolis.
Korir caught with a crowded males’s lead pack by the primary 30 kilometres earlier than making his transfer and was practically 30 seconds away from the remainder of the sphere by the 35-kilometre mark.
He glided by the ultimate kilometres, holding his arms out broad as he completed his textbook efficiency in a private greatest time for his first main title.
Ethiopia’s Mohamed Esa was second in 2:04:39 whereas Kenyan Amos Kipruto (2:04:50) completed third.
“Today I was thinking about Kiptum,” stated Korir. “I had to believe in myself and try to do my best.”
