Edward Kiptum set a new world marathon record in Chicago.
The dust had barely settled on Ethiopian runner Tigst Assefa’s amazing women’s world record at the Berlin Marathon a few weeks ago, a spectacular 2:11:53, when Kenyan runner Edward Kiptum smashed the men’s world marathon record this past week in Chicago. Right off the bat, several similarities are worth noting. First, they are both quite young – Assefa is 26, while Kiptum is only 23. This further supports the belief that it’s not a bad idea for runners to tackle the marathon early in their careers. Second – both marathons feature relatively flat courses and were gifted with great running weather. And third, Both Assefa and Kiptum wore “super-shoes.” Assefa ran in Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1s, while Kiptum flew to a startling 2:00:35 wearing a pair of Nike Dev 163 prototypes. Ready to Run delved into super-shoes in our last blog, so for this one, let’s take a closer look at Kiptum’s record.
When he broke the tape at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in 2:00:35 (shattering the course record by more than three minutes), Kiptum took down two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge’s world record (2:01:09 set at the 2022 Berlin Marathon) by 34 seconds. Second place went to defending cham Benson Kipruto of Kenya in 2:04:02 while Belgium’s Bashir Abdi was third in 2:04:32. Dutch runner Sifan Hassan won in the second fastest women’s marathon of all time, clocking a 2:13:44. Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich was second in 2:15:37, and Megertu Alemu of Ethiopia was third in 2:17:09.
Going into Chicago, Kiptum definitely had the goods—he’d previously clocked a 2:01:53 at the 2022 Valencia Marathon in his first marathon, and a 2:01:25 at the 2023 London Marathon.
Want a few fast facts? Running a mile in 4:36 is a pretty decent achievement for any runner. Kiptum averaged 4:36 per-mile for the entire 26.2-mile marathon. Many analysts of the sport feel that Kiptum has set the stage for a legitimate sub-two hour marathon. Kipchoge made history when he ran 1:59:40 at the INEOS 1:59 challenge; (however that record has an asterisk because of the various special circumstances, like the flat track course, the pace runners, etc. surrounding the event).
Kiptum, Assefa, and Kipchoge all accomplished their remarkable feat in the marathon by running extremely even splits. Okay, Kiptum did throw in a 4:18 mile at mile 22!
Running in only his third marathon at Chicago, Kiptum hit 5K splits of:
5K 14:26
10K 14:16
15K 14:27
20K 14:30
25K 14:25
30K 14:27
35K 13:51
40K 14:01
Yeah, that’s right, he hit the 10K mark in a marathon in 28:42! It’s also worth pointing out that Kiptum ran negative splits: after hitting the halfway mark in 1:00:48, he ran the second half in an astonishing 59:47. And note that he was able to pick up the pace in the closing stages of the race—underscoring how running “fast-finish” workouts in training can pay off.
So what can we say about this 23-year-old who now has three of the six fastest marathon times in history? I think we can safely say that he has an incredible future ahead of him and that his marathon progression has paved the way for new future records.
Upcoming races: Saturday, October 21 at 9:00 a.m., Oktoberfest 5K at Lago Vista High School in Lago Vista. Saturday, October 21 at 8:00 a.m., the Haunted Hustle 5K at San Gabriel Park, Georgetown. Saturday, October 21 at 7:00 a.m., the Hootenanny on the Hill 5K/10K at Plum Creek Community Center in Kyle.
