Organisers of the 48th Bank of America Chicago Marathon have confirmed elite fields for Sunday, October 11 that they describe as among the deepest in the race's history. The men's field of 44 includes six runners who have broken 2:04, and it is led by defending champion Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, who won last year in 2:02:23 and has since run 2:00:28 at the London Marathon, one of the fastest marathons ever recorded. Some 55,000 runners are expected to fill Grant Park's start corrals.
Kiplimo, who also holds the world half marathon record of 57:20 from Lisbon, has spoken openly about defending the title rather than simply chasing a time. His most obvious challenger on paper is Kenya's Amos Kipruto, whose 2:01:39 personal best is the second-fastest in the field and who finished second in Chicago a year ago. Ethiopia's Milkesa Mengesha, the 2024 Berlin champion, and Tadese Takele Bikila, a Tokyo winner, bring personal bests of 2:03:17 and 2:03:23 respectively, while Kenya's Alex Masai returns after finishing third in 2025.
The American interest centres on Charles Hicks, whose 2:04:35 at the Boston Marathon this spring is the second-fastest time ever run by a US man. He is joined by veterans Galen Rupp and Clayton Young in a domestic group that will be measured against a field where 2:04 is now a mid-pack mark. Chicago's flat, loop-based course has long favoured fast times, and a field of this quality raises the prospect of a race decided in the final 10 kilometres rather than by the pacemakers.
The women's race is smaller, with 30 elite entries, but carries plenty of narrative weight. Ethiopia's Hawi Feysa returns as defending champion after winning by more than two minutes in 2:14:57, and has said she hopes to run a personal best. Kenya's Brigid Kosgei, a former world record holder and two-time Chicago winner, is back in the city for the first time since her 2019 victory, and her compatriot Sharon Lokedi, a two-time Boston champion, makes her Chicago debut.
American hopes rest with Susanna Sullivan and Natosha Rogers, both of whom have set personal bests on the Chicago course, and with Emma Grace Hurley, who steps up to the marathon for the first time after setting an American 8K record. The wheelchair races, headlined by Marcel Hug, Daniel Romanchuk, Tatyana McFadden, Manuela Schär and Catherine Debrunner, complete a card that gives the autumn marathon calendar its next major flashpoint, three weeks before the TCS New York City Marathon.