Kipruto and Feysa Win Chicago Marathon as Wheelchair World Record Falls

Kenya's Amos Kipruto finally conquered the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, running a personal best of 2:01:09 to beat the defending champion, while Ethiopia's Hawi Feysa defended her women's title in 2:13:33. On a record-breaking morning in Chicago, Switzerland's Catherine Debrunner also smashed her own wheelchair world record, and American Emma Grace Hurley produced the fastest marathon debut ever run by a US woman.

Runners stream through downtown Chicago during the Chicago Marathon (file photo, 2019).

A Morning of Records in Chicago

The 48th edition of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, the sixth of this year's seven World Marathon Majors, drew an estimated 55,000 runners onto the streets of Chicago, according to reports. Conditions on the famously flat, fast course were described as near ideal, if slightly warmer than perfect, and the elite fields took full advantage.

Both champions ran personal bests. In the wheelchair races, both Swiss winners set records. And further down the field, American runners rewrote two national marks of their own — one for the fastest debut in US women's history, and one for the best marathon ever run by an American man over 40.

It added up to one of the deepest and fastest editions in the race's long history.

Kipruto Settles the Score

For Kipruto, Sunday's win was the end of a three-year climb up the Chicago podium. The 34-year-old Kenyan finished third here in 2024 and second in 2025, when he trailed Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo by 91 seconds. This time, he told reporters afterwards, the mindset was simple: he had come to fight.

The race looked ready to follow last year's script for most of the morning. Kiplimo, the defending champion, led the front pack through the early kilometres, with Kipruto tucked in close behind. Just after 30 kilometres, Kiplimo surged and began to pull away, and the rest of the elite field fell off one by one — except Kipruto, who matched him stride for stride.

Then, approaching 40 kilometres, the race turned. Kiplimo, who had been widely tipped as a candidate to challenge the two-hour barrier, hit the wall and faded badly, eventually finishing fourth in 2:04:18. Kipruto ran the closing stretch alone and crossed the line in 2:01:09, a personal best that moves him into the top five on the world all-time list, according to World Athletics.

Ethiopia's Tadese Bikila finished second in 2:02:56, with his compatriot Milkesa Mengesha third in 2:03:46. The title is Kipruto's second marathon major crown, four years after his victory in London.

Feysa Holds Off Lokedi in a Classic Duel

The women's race produced the day's best head-to-head battle. Feysa, the defending champion, and Kenya's Sharon Lokedi — a two-time Boston winner racing her first marathon on a flat course — pulled away from the lead pack around the 30-kilometre mark and ran together deep into the final miles, trading the lead repeatedly.

The two were still side by side at 40 kilometres. Feysa finally broke clear over the last 2.2 kilometres, covering that stretch far faster than her rival, and won in 2:13:33. The time cut more than a minute off her personal best, moved her to fourth on the world all-time list according to FloTrack, and stands as the second-fastest winning time in Chicago history, behind only the 2:09:56 world record Ruth Chepngetich ran here in 2024.

Lokedi finished second in 2:14:07, with Kenya's Brigid Kosgei, the Chicago champion in 2018 and 2019, third in 2:14:55. Feysa, who also took a bronze medal in Tokyo earlier this year, collapsed briefly after crossing the line before telling reporters she was elated to have defended her crown.

A wheelchair racer in action during the London Marathon (file photo, 2013).

A World Record on Wheels

The wheelchair races were a Swiss sweep — and a historic one. Catherine Debrunner won the women's race in 1:33:16, breaking her own world record by around a minute, a mark she had set in Berlin three years ago. It was her 14th major victory, according to reports, and she admitted afterwards that she had not expected a world record at all.

Her compatriot Marcel Hug was just as dominant in the men's race, winning in a course-record 1:21:34 — his seventh Chicago title and, by the tally reported on the day, his 42nd major victory. The next finishers came in almost nine minutes behind him.

American Tatyana McFadden was second in the women's wheelchair race in 1:42:01, while Aaron Pike was the top American man, fifth in 1:30:16.

Galen Rupp pictured at the 2012 Olympics (file photo). The 40-year-old set a US masters record in Chicago on Sunday.

America's Day: A Record Debut and a Masters Mark

The loudest home cheers were reserved for two very different American performances. Emma Grace Hurley, a 28-year-old from Indianapolis racing the marathon distance for the first time in her life, finished seventh in 2:20:47 — the fastest marathon debut ever by an American woman. She broke the previous mark of 2:22:10, set by Fiona O'Keeffe at the 2024 Olympic trials, and also ran the fastest marathon by an American woman since the Paris Olympics, according to NBC Sports.

At the other end of the experience scale, 40-year-old Galen Rupp rolled back the years. The 2016 Olympic bronze medallist finished 11th in 2:06:55, smashing the US masters record by more than three minutes. The previous mark, 2:10:02, was set by Elkanah Kibet at the 2024 Olympic trials. Rupp's run came on the same Chicago course where he won the race outright in 2017.

Clayton Young was the top American man in the open race, seventh in 2:05:23 despite racing with a hamstring injury, according to reports.

What This Means

Chicago has built its reputation on speed, and Sunday strengthened it. Kipruto's 2:01:09 and Feysa's 2:13:33 both rank among the fastest times ever run, and Debrunner's wheelchair world record underlines how often this course produces historic marks when the weather cooperates.

For Kiplimo, the day will raise familiar questions. Few runners alive can match his speed over shorter distances, and he dominated this race for 30 kilometres — but the marathon's final miles exposed him again, just as talk of a first legal sub-two-hour marathon was building around him. The barrier, for now, survives.

For American distance running, Hurley's debut and Rupp's masters record bookend an encouraging picture: a new name arriving at the front of the sport just as one of its most durable champions shows that age has not finished with him yet.

What Happens Next

The marathon majors season closes with the New York City Marathon on November 1, the last major of 2026, according to NBC Sports. Kiplimo's camp must now decide whether he takes another swing at a fast course this season or rebuilds for 2027, while Kipruto and Feysa leave Chicago as the runners everyone else has to beat.

For Hurley, the road now points toward the US Olympic marathon trials in March 2028, where the top three finishers are expected to make the team for the Los Angeles Games. On Sunday's evidence, a runner who had never raced 26.2 miles before this weekend will be one of the favourites to be there.