The wall of 2 hours and 10 minutes is broken in women’s marathon world record

Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya won the women’s 42.195-kilometer full-course race in the Chicago Marathon with a new world record of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 56 seconds on Sunday (local time). Chepngetich broke her personal best of 2:14:04, set at the same event in 2022, by more than four minutes and the previous world record of 2:11:53, set by Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia at the Berlin Marathon in 2023, by nearly two minutes. She was more than seven minutes ahead of Sutume Asefa Kebede of Ethiopia, who finished second with a record of 2:17:32. Two hours and 10 minutes was considered the limit for the women’s marathon.

Chepngetich has consistently shown strong performance in Chicago, taking the top spot for the third time in her career after winning in 2021 and 2022. She finished second (2:15:37) behind Dutch Sifan Hassan (2:13:44) in last year’s race.

“I’m so proud. I kept fighting, thinking about the world record, which was my dream. The world record (set by an Ethiopian) has returned to Kenya,” Chepngetich said after breaking the world record.


Bo-Mi Im bom@donga.com