For someone who finished in second place twice at the Chicago Marathon, Brigid Kosgei has finally broken through, not only to win it but also break the women’s marathon world record.

The 25-year-old Kenyan broke Paula Radcliffe’s long-standing world record since 2002 by more than a minute, finishing the Bank of America Chicago Marathon at 2 hours, 14 minutes and 4 seconds. In this IAAF Gold Label race, she improved her personal best by more than 4 minutes. Her closest rival only crossed the finish line 7 minutes later.



With the Chicago Marathon hosting more than 45,000 runners, Kosgei collected the US$100,000 purse, plus a US$75,000 bonus for beating the course record. Earlier this year, Kosgei became the youngest woman ever won the 2019 London Marathon.

In the closely contested men’s race, Kenyan Lawrence Cherono cross the finish line at 2:05:45, just  one second ahead from Ethiopian Dejene Debela. Debela’s compatriot Mengstu completed the podium while UK’s Mo Farah placed eighth in 2:09:58.

WOMEN’s RESULTS
1 Brigid Kosgei (KEN) 2:14:04
2 Ababel Yeshaneh (ETH) 2:20:51
3 Gelete Burka (ETH) 2:20:55

MEN’s RESULTS
1 Lawrence Cherono (KEN) 2:05:45
2 Dejene Debela (ETH) 2:05:46
3 Asefa Mengstu (ETH) 2:05:48