Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich chopped nearly two minutes off the world record to win the women’s title at the 2024 Chicago Marathon in two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds on Sunday.

The 30-year-old former world champion becomes the first-ever female marathon runner to break the 2:10:00 barrier, beating the previous world record of 2:11:53 set by Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa last September in Berlin.

Chepngetich never hid her ambition to renew the world record from the start of the race, hitting the 5km mark in 15:00 and 10km in 30:14.

By passing the halfway point in 1:04:16, she had already built a convincing sole lead.

She went on to extend her lead with a rapid and steady pace in the remainder of the race before wrapping up the victory with a margin of more than seven and a half minutes.

Ethiopia’s Sutume Asefa Kebede finished second in 2:17:32, followed by Kenya’s Irine Cheptai, 20 seconds behind.

John Korir completed a Kenyan double with a winning mark of 2:02:43 in the men’s race, making him the sixth-fastest runner in history.

Huseydin Mohamed Esa of Ethiopia clocked 2:04:39 to finish second, and Kenya’s Amos Kiprutoto settled for third place in 2:04:50. (PNA)