On 13 October 2024, Ruth Chepng'etich of Kenya ran the Chicago Marathon in 2:09:56, becoming the first woman in history to break the 2-hour-10-minute barrier.
A half marathon split that rewrote the pace books
The race ignited from the gun. Ethiopia's Sutume Kebede had requested a first-half split of 65:30, then went even faster, passing halfway in 64:30.
Chepng'etich, guided by two male pacemakers, came through even quicker in 64:16. That split was the fifth-fastest half marathon ever run by a woman and the fastest ever on U.S. soil — a mark that itself stood as the world record as recently as 2021.
Where the barrier broke
Two years earlier, in this same race, Chepng'etich had gone through halfway in 65:44 before fading to 2:14:18. This time, she refused to weaken.
Her second-half split of 65:40 was still faster than the world-record pace Tigist Assefa had set in Berlin. She crossed the line having averaged 4:57 per mile, the first woman ever to hold a sub-five-minute average pace across a marathon.
The margin over Assefa's previous mark of 2:11:53 was stark: 1 minute and 57 seconds. Only nine men ran faster than Chepng'etich on the day.
A world record built from a midnight furnace
Chepng'etich's career had already tested her in extremes. In 2019 she won marathon gold at the World Championships in Doha, a race run at midnight in 32.7 °C heat and 73% humidity, where only 40 of 68 starters finished.
"I feel so great. I'm very proud of myself," she told reporters afterwards. "The world record has come back to Kenya, and I dedicate this world record to Kelvin Kiptum."
Her third Chicago title cut more than four minutes from her previous best. The barrier that had seemed unapproachable was now a line in the record books.