Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich ran the second-fastest women’s marathon in history, and Emily Sisson broke the American record at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.
Chepngetich repeated as Chicago champion in 2:14:18, which was 14 seconds off the world record. “I wanted to break the world record … but I’m happy,” she said. “Next time, I will not miss it.” Through 40 kilometers of the 42.1-kilometer race, Chepngetich was on pace to break the world record of 2:14:04 set by countrywoman Brigid Kosgei in 2019, also on the flat roads of Chicago.
Sisson finished second in 2:18:29, breaking the American record of 2:19:12 set by Keira D’Amato in Houston on Jan.
16. Sisson, 30, ran her first mass marathon since dropping out of the Tokyo Olympic Trials as a pre-race favorite. CHICAGO MARATHON: Results “I actually didn’t know what pace I was on the whole time,” Sisson said in a press conference. “I just was given instructions to go off my pacers and not think about time at all, so I had no clue what pace I was running until, I think, like a mile to go.