Sifan Hassan Wins the Chicago Marathon

Published October 10, 2023 04:21PM

It was a fast day across the board in Chicago. Ethiopian-born Dutch runner Sifan Hassan won the women’s race in 2:13:44 (or 5:06 pace per mile), the second-fastest time in history to the 2:11:53 world record Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa set in Berlin two weeks ago.

In the men’s race, Kelvin Kiptum has officially become the heir apparent to Eliud Kipchoge. The 23-year-old Kenyan continued his yearlong assault on the marathon this Sunday morning on the streets of Chicago with a new world record of 2:00:35.

Running the second marathon of her career, Hassan outran Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich (2:15:37) over the second half of the course to secure the victory. Both women had been on world record pace through the halfway point, with Chepngetich holding a six-second advantage as she came through in 1:05:42.

But Hassan was stronger over the final miles, clocking a 1:07:56 second-half split to Chepngetich’s 1:09:55. The 30-year-old Hassan, who made her debut at 26.2 miles in London in April with a 2:18:33 victory, won Chicago six weeks after earning medals in the 1,500- and 5,000-meter events at the track and field world championships in Budapest.

Top American women Emily Sisson and Emma Bates were locked in a duel near American record pace through the first half of the race. They came through the 13.1-mile split in 1:09:31 just off the pace Sisson had run a year ago to lower the American record to 2:18:29. But neither could run that fast over the second half of the course as Sisson closed in 1:12:38 to finish as the top American in 2:22:09, while Bates covered the second half in 1:15:33 and finished in 2:25:04 in 13th place, sixth among U.S. runners.

“It was another amazing day in Chicago,” the 31-year-old Sisson said. “The crowds were electric. I really appreciated the cheers at the end. It felt really good until about mile 18, then I had a side stitch come on and around mile 21 I was really hurting. So all of the ‘Go Emily’ cheers were really appreciated today. I was proud to gut it out and still finish as top American.”

But several Americans turned in really sharp performances. Resurgent Molly Seidel, the bronze medalist in the Tokyo Olympics marathon, was just behind Sisson, finishing eighth in 2:23:07.

Sara Vaughn, a 37-year-old mother of four, placed 10th in a new personal best of 2:23:24 as the third U.S. finisher, followed by Americans Gabriella Rooker (11th, 2:24:35) and Dakotah Lindwurm (12th, 2:24:40), who also set new personal records.

Meanwhile, Des Linden, running her first marathon since she turned 40 in July, placed 17th in 2:27:35, lowering the American master’s record by 12 seconds. Next up for the American runners is the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon on February 3 in Orlando, Florida. Sisson galvanized herself as the best American marathoner, but Rooker and Lindwurm are now in the lead group of contenders along with Bates, Keira D’Amato, Betsy Saina, and Lindsay Flanagan.