Kelvin Kiptum has not participated in any major championship. In fact, his presence on the track is testimonial because at the age of 18 he was already running -and winning- local half marathons in Kenya.
Eliud Kipchoge, on the other hand, made his debut in this event at the age of 28 and Kenenisa Bekele, the other man who has run under two hours and two minutes, at the age of 31.
Kiptum has shown huge talent since his debut in the marathon, which took place less than a year ago in Valencia with a resounding victory in which he signed an exceptional 2:01:53.
That put him on the radar of the ‘majors’ and less than five months later he made his debut in London in a race in which he shared the bill, among others, with Bekele himself.
None of that daunted Kiptum, who won with an incredible time of 2:01:25, just 16 seconds off Kipchoge‘s world record.
He covered the second half of the marathon in less than an hour (59:45), at a pace of 2:49 per kilometer.
That is why his presence this Sunday, October 8, in the Chicago Marathon, fifth major of the season, has aroused so much expectation, beyond the initial disappointment of not seeing him in Berlin against Kipchoge.
Chicago is a fast race – if the wind doesn’t play up – although not as fast as the marathon in the German capital.
The world record has fallen twice in the most populous city in the state of Illinois but you have to go back to 1999 to see the second and last one, to the greater glory of Moroccan Khalid Khannouchi (2:05:42), who three years later repeated in London.
Since then, Berlin has held the last eight men’s world records, while in Chicago, only Dennis Kimetto has gone under 2:04 (2:03:45). Kiptum knows this and will have to fight against logic and history to take the marathon to a new dimension.
Among his rivals, defending champion Benson Kipruto, third in the 2022 and 2023 Boston Marathon, and fellow Kenyans John Korir, Daniel Mateiko and Wesley Kiptoo, the latter two debutants.
Chepngetich, in the wake of Assefa
In the women’s event, and after Tigst Assefa’s dazzling world record in Berlin, there is much interest to see what defending champion Ruth Chepngetich, who last year was 14 seconds off Brigid Kosgei‘s then world record (2:14:04), is capable of.
Her compatriot Joyciline Jepkosgei, winner in New York in 2019 and in London in 2021, and the illustrious Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba, who was making her marathon debut a year ago in Amsterdam, look like great rivals.