The forty seventh Chicago Marathon returns Sunday, as greater than 53,000 runners will compete.
The race begins in waves at round 7:20 a.m. in Grant Park. The 26.2-mile course takes runners via 29 neighborhoods as they try to complete the race. The course is made up of largely lengthy, straight roads. The flat course is advantageous for runners, which is the primary motive that six world data have been set on the occasion.
The marathon shall be broadcasted on NBC 5 for the twenty second yr in a row.
Final yr, Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich set the document within the girls’s open division (2:09:56). In 2023, Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum — who died in a highway accident in 2024 — set a world document within the males’s open division (2:00:35).
How will Mantz carry out?
The No. 1 marathon runner in the USA is Conner Mantz. The BYU alum has his eyes set on breaking the 23-year-old American document of two:05:38, set by Khalid Khannouchi on the 2002 London Marathon.
However the quickest an American has ran on a 26.2-mile course was Ryan Corridor’s 2:04:58 in 2011 on the Boston Marathon. Mantz ran his first marathon on the 2022 Chicago Marathon. He completed seventh on the occasion and recorded the second-fastest debut time by an American.
Since then, Mantz has remained aggressive, however now he’s on a unique stage. He completed fourth on the Boston Marathon (2:05:08) and received the U.S. 20K championships in an American document time of 56:16.
Monitoring Mantz’s efficiency is a key storyline on the marathon.
Defending males’s champion
The 2024 Chicago Marathon champion, John Korir, returns to defend his title in a loaded area this yr. Korir, 27, received final yr’s race with a time of two:02:44. He’s the youthful brother of 2012 Boston Marathon winner Wesley Korir.
However Korir is a favourite to repeat as champion after successful the Boston Marathon this yr. He didn’t start working critically till his 20s, so there’s nonetheless potential for him to faucet into. He’s additionally bold and has eyes set on a objective bigger than simply defending his title. Korir desires to run a sub-2:01, which solely Kiptum has achieved.
The boys’s area is deep with worthy challengers. Kenya’s Timothy Kipglat is the second-fastest runner within the division with a private greatest of two:02:55. Amos Kipruto, who completed third in final yr’s race, can even be contending for the highest spot.
Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo is working his second marathon after a runner-up end in London earlier this yr.
New girls’s champion
There shall be a brand new girls’s champion topped after the 2024 winner, Chepngetich, was suspended following a optimistic drug check.
The favourite to seize the crown is Ethiopia’s Megertu Alemu, who completed third on the 2023 Chicago Marathon. Final yr, she ran a private greatest time of two:16:34 on the London Marathon.
Alemu’s fellow Ethiopian, Hawi Feysa, shall be a worthy challenger. Each Alemu and Feysa are the quickest within the area, however neither has a Main marathon win beneath their belt.
Ejgayehu Taye, who’s making her marathon debut after competing in a number of half-marathons.
