World record! Ruth Chepngetich is the women's winner of the Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:09:56

At the halfway point, she would have reached fifth place on the all-time half marathon leaderboard with a time of 1:04:16. It was just a matter of whether Chepngetich could hold on in the second half.

At 30km, Chepngetich was almost two minutes ahead of her closest competitor, Sutume Kebede of Ethiopia. Irine Cheptai from Kenya came third again, 5:20 minutes behind Chepngetich.

At mile 19, she recorded a split slower than 5:00 per mile for the first time when she ran 5:07. She followed with a time of 5:02 for the 20th mile.

Chepngetich takes home $100,000 for the win, a $50,000 bonus for setting the course record and certainly a significant signing bonus from her sponsor Nike.

She won the Chicago Marathon in 2021 and 2022 and came second in 2023. It was in 2022 when Chepngetich ran her previous personal best, 2:14:18. Before today, it was her fourth all-time among female marathon runners.

Now she is the first.

Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon. Her stories about the sport, its trends and fascinating people have appeared in Runner's world since 2005. She is the author of two popular fitness books: Run your butt off! And Get off your ass!