Kenyan marathon runner Ruth Chepngetich has smashed the women’s world record by almost two minutes at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, becoming the first woman to break the 2 hours and 10 minute time.
Her time of 2:09:56 broke the previous world record set last year by Ethiopian runner Tigist Assefa, which she’d achieved at the Berlin Marathon.
Chepngetich said after the race she felt “so great” and “very proud” of herself. “This is my dream,” she said. “I fought a lot, thinking about the world record.”
It is the third time the 30-year old has won the Chicago Marathon, which has a prize money of $US100,000 ($AUD 148,485). She also won in 2021 and 2022. Last year, she was runner-up to the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan. Asked how she approached this year’s race differently, Chepngetich said she went into the race on Sunday with the world record in her mind.
“I prepared well,” she said, adding, “The weather was perfect.”
At this year’s race, Sutume Asefa Kebede of Ethiopia came in second place at a time of 2:17:32.
In the men’s race, John Korir of Kenya won in a time of 2:02:44. Both winners ran the 26.2-mile race in honour of the late Kelvin Kiptum who tragically died in a car accident earlier this year after hitting a tree near a training area in Kenya.
Kiptum, 24, broke the world record by 34 seconds last year at the 2023 Chicago Marathon.
“The world record has come back to Kenya,” Chepngetich said. “I dedicate this world record to Kelvin Kiptum.”