Amos Kipruto won the 48th Chicago Marathon on Sunday 11 October in a personal best of 2:01:09, a time reported as among the five fastest marathons ever run. The Kenyan had finished third in Chicago in 2024 and second in 2025, and said afterwards that the 2026 edition was “either win or die” for him. Results remain subject to official confirmation by the organisers.
A lead group of three, helped by six pacemakers, reached halfway in 1:00:21 in cool, near-windless conditions of around 15 degrees Celsius. Kipruto moved clear of defending champion Jacob Kiplimo around the 35-kilometre mark and kept extending his lead, eventually winning by almost two minutes. Kiplimo faded badly and finished fourth in 2:04:18.
Tadese Takele Bikila of Ethiopia, the Tokyo champion, took second in 2:02:56 on his United States marathon debut, with fellow Ethiopian Milkesa Mengesha third in 2:03:46. Boki Diriba and Daniel Mateiko were both timed at 2:05:01 for fifth and sixth, and Clayton Young and Charles Hicks finished seventh and eighth as the leading Americans.
The women's race came down to two. Hawi Feysa of Ethiopia and Kenya's Sharon Lokedi, the 2026 Boston Marathon winner, broke away from the rest of the field and traded the lead before Feysa pulled clear in the closing kilometres. She crossed in a personal best of 2:13:33, with Lokedi 34 seconds behind in 2:14:07. Brigid Kosgei, who set a world record in Chicago in 2019, completed the podium in 2:14:55.
The race drew more than 55,000 entrants, a record for the event, and a reported 1.7 million spectators lined the course. It also featured a world record in the wheelchair division, where Catherine Debrunner won in 1:33:16. With Chicago done, attention turns to Frankfurt and Dublin next weekend and then the New York City Marathon in early November.