Kenya’s record-breaker, the late Kelvin Kiptum, is set to be honoured during the Chicago Marathon that will take place on Sunday, October 13, 2024.

Kiptum died in a road traffic accident in February this year, just four months after he set his world marathon record of 2:00:35 in Chicago. His legacy is set to be honoured with a moment of silence at the start line.

Meanwhile, Ruth Chepng’etich will contest, hoping to win a hattrick in a field where her Kenyan compatriot Joyciline Jepkosgei and Ethiopia’s Sutume Kebede will feature. The three enjoy sub-2:17 records and form part of a field that includes another six women to have dipped under 2:20.

Chepng’etich, the 2019 world marathon champion, won in Chicago in 2021 and 2022, and followed that with a runner-up finish to Sifan Hassan last year. She clocked 2:14:18 on that occasion, while her PB of 2:14:18 set in Chicago in 2022 makes her the fourth fastest women’s marathon runner in history.

She ran 2:24:36 for her most recent marathon, in London in April, and placed ninth, but then clocked 1:05:58 to win the 21k Buenos Aires half marathon in August.

Jepkosgei, who won the London Marathon in 2021 and the New York City Marathon in 2019, finished fourth in Chicago last year in 2:17:23. 

She improved by one place when returning to marathon action in London in April, setting a PB of 2:16:24. 

Joining Chepng’etich, Jepkosgei, and Kebede will be three more women with personal bests under 2:18 – Ethiopia’s Degitu Azimeraw, Ashete Bekere and Hiwot Gebrekidan – plus Kenya’s Irine Cheptai, who ran 2:18:22 in Hamburg in April.

Men’s entry list

Ethiopia’s Birhanu Legese leads the men’s field with the personal best of 2:02:48 he ran in Berlin in 2019. That performance puts him sixth on the men’s world marathon all-time list, but since then his highest marathon finish has been a third place, achieved in Rotterdam with a 2:05:16 run in April, according to World Athletics.

The two-time Tokyo Marathon champion will want to return to winning ways when he heads back to Chicago, where he placed 10th when making his World Marathon Majors debut in 2018, but he faces tough opposition.

Six other men in the field have personal bests faster than 2:06, including Kenya’s Amos Kipruto, Vincent Ng’etich, and John Korir, and Ethiopia’s Dawit Wolde, Amedework Walelegn and Mohamed Esa.

Kipruto, the 2019 world bronze medallist, and Ngetich have matching PBs of 2:03:13. Kipruto won the London Marathon in 2022 and trains with Benson Kipruto, who won that year’s Chicago Marathon, while Ngetich was second in the Berlin Marathon last year, five places ahead of Kipruto. He was also third at this year’s Tokyo Marathon.

Korir ran his personal best of 2:05:01 when finishing third in Chicago in 2022, while Wolde ran 2:03:48 in Valencia last year, Esa has a best of 2:05:05 from Amsterdam in 2022, and Walelegn clocked 2:04:50 in Rotterdam in April, finishing runner-up – one place ahead of Legese.

Looking to join them at the front of the field will be Kenya’s Daniel Ebenyo, the world 10,000m and half marathon silver medallist who makes his marathon debut. The 29-year-old ran a 59:30 half marathon in Berlin in April, 26 seconds off his PB set in Manama in 2022.