More importantly, Snitz Jr and Jr both crushed it at the same Marathon. Julie ran her 2nd one in a row (new PR) with Jim finishing in 2 hr 44 mins (Avg 6:09/mile...wtf!)
Kelvin Kiptum Breaks Men’s Marathon World Record in Chicago
The 23-year-old Kenyan’s 2:00:35 lowered the mark set by Eliud Kipchoge, as the sport intensifies its hunt to break two hours in an official race
By Laine Higgins, WSJ
Oct. 8, 2023 12:19 pm ET
Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum shattered the men’s marathon world record on Sunday, winning the Chicago Marathon in two hours and 35 seconds, lowering Eliud Kipchoge’s previous mark of 2:01:09 by 34 seconds.
Kiptum, who is 23 years old, established the new standard in just his third marathon, with a remarkable show of speed. He did it with an average pace of 4:36 per mile, and ran nearly a minute faster in the second half of the race than the first 13.1 miles.
In doing so, he became the first person to finish a marathon in under 121 minutes in a sanctioned road race. His performance will now intensify the sport’s chase to break the two hour mark.
Only one man, Kiptum’s idol Kipchoge, can claim to have done that. But that result, a 1:59:40, came at a staged event in Vienna on a circuit course with a pack of pacers, not in a sanctioned race.
Because of the marathon’s grueling nature, most runners work up to the distance slowly and begin their careers racing shorter events on the track and on the road. That’s not what Kiptum did. When he was 18 years old in 2018, he entered his first race as a professional. It was a half marathon in Eldoret, Kenya and he walked away with a win.
Over the next three years he got faster and faster, shaving four minutes off of his already blazing half marathon time. Then, two days after turning 23, Kiptum made history by running the fastest debut marathon ever, on the streets of Valencia, Spain.
It wasn’t just his finishing time of 2:01:53 that flashed his immense potential; it was how he attacked the second half of the race. He covered the last 13.1 miles in one hour and 15 seconds, then the fastest back half ever run in a marathon.
Kelvin Kiptum poses next to the clock marking his world record time. PHOTO: KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
In running parlance, this is called “negative splitting,” and for many athletes it is the sign of a race well run. It’s also exceptionally difficult to accelerate with more fatigued legs. Yet Kiptum has proved himself to be the best in history by doing just that.
In his second marathon, a 2:01:25 victory in London in April 2023, Kitpum became the only human to run the second half of a marathon in under an hour (59:45). Coming into Chicago, Kiptum told reporters that he felt more fit now than he did in the spring. But in an effort to lower expectations, he said that his primary goal was to break the course record of 2:03:45 set in 2013.
In the women’s race, a pair of elite runners, defending Chicago marathon champion Ruth Chepngetich and Sifan Hassan, spent much of the race tracking under the world record, newly set by Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa at the Berlin Marathon on September 24. Hassan pulled away in the second half, but fell off Assefa’s pace around mile 18.
She crossed the finish line first in 2:13:44, the second fastest time ever run by a woman. Had the Chicago marathon come in the calendar before Berlin, Hassan would have broken the women’s world record, previously a 2:14:04 set by Brigid Kosgei at Chicago in 2019.
While most of Hassan’s competitors on Sunday were reaching peak mileage six weeks ago, the Dutchwoman was racing at 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. She won two medals, bronze in the 1,500 and silver in the 5,000, and when asked about her approach she admitted it might be a bit crazy.
“I don’t know if six weeks is enough,” she said of the time between races. “I just love the pain.”
Sifan Hassan won the women’s division of the Chicago Marathon. PHOTO: MICHAEL REAVES/GETTY IMAGES
Kiptum and Hassan are sponsored by Nike and secured their victories wearing the company’s signature “super shoes.” Designed with chunky cushioned soles that contain a springy carbon fiber plate within that improve running economy, they have been responsible for ushering endurance running toward a new era of once-unthinkable times.
Though Nike has had an undeniably advantage in developing super shoes as first movers, its competitors have caught up. Adidas now offers a $500 model designed to be worn for just one race—the exact shoe Assefa wore en route to setting the world record last month.
Conner Mantz finished as the top American man when he crossed the line in 2:07:47. Emily Sisson, who last year set the American record of 2:18:29 in Chicago, was the top American finisher for the women with her time of 2:22:09. Just behind her in 2:23:07 was Molly Seidel, the Olympic bronze medalist from Tokyo who has struggled with injuries and mental health concerns in the years since 2021.
Write to Laine Higgins at laine.higgins@wsj.com
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