On a crisp October morning in Chicago, Ruth Chepng'etich ran a marathon in 2:09:56, becoming the first woman to break the 2:10 barrier and taking almost two minutes off the world record.
A pace no rival could follow
Her intent was unmistakable from the gun. She covered the first 5 kilometres in 15:00 with Ethiopia’s Sutume Asefa Kebede at her shoulder, then reached 10 kilometres in 30:14. Kebede was still just two seconds back, but the pressure was already relentless.
Chepng'etich hit halfway in 1:04:16 — the fifth-fastest half marathon split in history — running 4:58 per mile on a breezy but flat course. Kebede began to drift, and by 30 kilometres the gap had swelled to nearly two minutes.
Chepng'etich’s next 10-kilometre segment was her slowest of the race, yet she still extended the lead to more than six minutes. Kebede finished second in 2:17:32, a distant figure on the same road.
A record built on a near-miss
Two years earlier on the same Chicago course, Chepng'etich had gone through halfway in 65:44 and faded, missing the world record by 14 seconds. This time she ran a more controlled second half of 65:40, erasing that memory completely.
The old record of 2:11:53, set by Tigist Assefa in Berlin, had stood for just over a year. Chepng'etich cut 1:57 from it and became the first woman under both 2:11 and 2:10 in a single stride.
“The world record has come back to Kenya, and I dedicate this world record to Kelvin Kiptum,” she told reporters afterwards, naming the men’s record holder who died in February 2024.
World Athletics ratified the mark in December 2024. It still stands.