The Chicago Marathon is one of seven World Marathon Majors: in chronological order, they include Tokyo, Boston, London, Sydney, Berlin, Chicago and New York. While Boston is the oldest established marathon and is, of course, the most popular at Wellesley, Chicago’s flat, quick course makes it the perfect stage for its famous world-record-breaking performances. Both the men’s and women’s marathon world records have been set at Chicago marathons: the men’s by the late Kelvin Kiptum in 2023 at 2 hours and 35 seconds, and the women’s by Ruth Chepngetich in 2024 at 2 hours, 9 minutes and 56 seconds. The hype around the 2025 Chicago Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 12 was considerable, and while no world records were broken, there were nonetheless some incredible stories from the event.
The biggest story in the United States is the historic race by Conner Mantz, the 28-year-old runner hailing from Utah who managed to break the American record for the first time in 23 years, finishing in fourth place overall with a time of 2 hours, 4 minutes and 43 seconds. For reference, that is an average mile time of 4 minutes and 43 seconds. Mantz had previously finished seventh in 2022 and sixth in 2023, but made considerable progress this year. The winner of the men’s side was Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda in only his second marathon ever, with a time of 2:02:23, an average of 4 minutes and 40 seconds per mile. Kiplimo, at only 24, currently holds the world record for the half-marathon distance, which he bested by a whopping 48 seconds, and is regarded as having the potential to break the two-hour barrier at some point in his career. His win at Chicago was decisive: the second-place finisher crossed the line one minute and 31 seconds after Kiplimo.
On the women’s side, Hawi Feysa of Ethiopia came away with the first-place finish with a time of 2 hours, 14 minutes and 57 seconds —an incredible average mile time of 5 minutes and 9 seconds per mile. At 26 years old, it is the first Major title of her career. The women’s race had a similarly large gap between the first-place finisher and the rest of the field: Megertu Alemu, also from Ethiopia, took second place two minutes and 21 seconds after Feysa. The highest placing American was Natosha Rogers, finishing in sixth place with a time of 2 hours, 23 minutes, 28 seconds, a new personal best at 34 years old.
After the excitement of Chicago, the final Major of the year takes place in only two weeks and is a short train ride away from Wellesley in New York City on Sunday, Nov. 2. The field for the race is stacked: 2024 defending champions Abdi Nageeye and Sheila Chepkirui are both attempting to maintain their titles, while many additional former winners are fighting to reclaim the title as well. On the women’s side, 2023 champion Hellen Obiri and 2022 champion Sharon Lokedi will spar with Chepkirui for the win. You may recognize Lokedi’s name as the most recent winner of the Boston Marathon, while Obiri was the winner in both 2023 and 2024. The rivalry between these champions will be thrilling to watch. On the men’s side, Albert Korir, who was the winner in 2021 and was on the podium in 2023 and 2024, and Evans Chebet, the 2022 winner who was the runner-up in 2024, will challenge Nageeye in what is anticipated to be an extremely close race.
Contact the editors responsible for this story: Katie McCabe and Finley Tipton
