The Chicago Marathon 2024 promises to be one of the year’s most exciting events, with an elite line-up that includes some of the most prominent figures in athletics. In the women’s category, Ruth Chepngetich returns with a mission to achieve a historic hat trick, while Joyciline Jepkosgei and Sutume Kebede will be looking to challenge their dominance in one of the fastest races on the world circuit.

With barrier-breaking personal bests and fierce competition, this marathon edition will witness extraordinary feats on both the women’s and men’s sides, with athletes such as Benson Kipruto and Vincent Ngetich also aiming for glory.

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Women’s Elite Chicago Marathon 2024

Ruth Chepngetich and the Quest for the Hat trick
Country: Kenya

PB: 2:14:28

Age: 30.

Ruth Chepngetich will be looking for a hat trick at the Chicago Marathon when she returns to the World Athletics Platinum Label road race on October 13.

The 2019 world champion won in Chicago in 2021 and 2022 and finished second behind Sifan Hassan in 2023.

Joyciline Jepkosgei, a regular at the London Marathon
Country: Ethiopia

P.B: 2:16:24

Age: 30 years old

The Ethiopian, a two-time Abbott World Marathon Majors champion, is the winner of the London Marathon 2021. She has been on the podium three times at this event, and it is in this city that she achieved her best time, 2:16:24, in 2024.

He made his debut in the 2019 New York Marathon and finished second in the Valencia Marathon in 2022.

After that race, she won the Berlin Half Marathon (1:05:16) and the London Marathon (2″17:43) in 2021 and finished fourth in Chicago last year.

Sutume Kebede, will honor his colleague Kelvin Kiptum
Country: Ethiopia

P.B: 2:15:55

Age: 29

Kebede is the fastest female marathon runner in the world this year, thanks to her personal best of 2:15:55, with which she won the Tokyo Marathon 2024 in March. She is eighth on the all-time women’s marathon world list, four places behind Chepngetich, who won Chicago in 2022 with 2:14:18.

“I’m excited to come back to Chicago and race on a track that has proven to be very fast”, said Kebede, who finished 15th in last year’s race.

“After seeing what my teammate Kelvin Kiptum did last year, I want to come to Chicago and do something big”, she said.

Kiptum, who was part of Kebede’s training group, died in a traffic accident in February, just four months after setting a world marathon record of 2:00:35 in Chicago. This year’s male athletes include Kenya’s Amos Kipruto, who, like Kebede, says he will run in Kiptum’s honor.

They will be joined by three other sub-2:18 runners – Ethiopians Degitu Azimeraw, Ashete Bekere, and Hiwot Gebrekidan – plus the second and third fastest U.S. marathon runners, Keira D’Amato and Betsy Saina.

Download the complete 2024 elite field roster (.pdf)

Men’s elite of the Chicago Marathon 2024

Amos Kipruto, try to make a personal best
Country: Kenya

PB: 02:03:13

Age: 32

Amos Kipruto arrives for his first Abbott World Marathon Major in the United States with four podium finishes between London, Tokyo, and Berlin. That includes a victory in the 2022 TCS London Marathon. He finished seventh in his most recent race, the 2023 BMW Berlin Marathon.

2022 was the best year of Kipruto’s career, kicking off with a second-place finish in the
Tokyo Marathon behind only the great Eliud Kipchoge. Seven months later, he won his London match.

Kipruto won the bronze medal at the 2019 World Championship Marathon. He represented Kenya in the 2020 Tokyo Games but did not finish the marathon. Besides his victory in London, Kipruto won marathons in Rome and Seoul.

He trains with 2022 Chicago champion Benson Kipruto (no relation) and Boston and New York City winner Evans Chebet. Kipruto says he will run Chicago for his fallen countryman, 2023 Chicago champion, and world record holder Kelvin Kiptum.

The men’s field features 33-year-old Kenyan Amos Kipruto, a bronze medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“My goal is to try to make a personal best,” said Kipruto. “I want to show the world that I’m still the kind of athlete capable of winning a big one like Chicago”.

Vincent Ngetich, looking for his first major victory

Country: Kenya

PB: 2:03:13
Kipruto will have to contend with Vincent Ngetich, who has an identical personal best of 2:03:13 and is looking for his first major victory. Ngetich was second in the 2023 Berlin Marathon, five places ahead of Kipruto, and was third in this year’s Tokyo Marathon.

Daniel Ebenyo, debut in Chicago
Country: Kenya

Age: 29
PB: Debut

Daniel Ebenyo will make his anticipated and long-awaited marathon debut in Chicago. Ebenyo is the reigning World silver medalist in the 10,000m and the World Championship Half Marathon. He’s a three-time Kenyan national champion in the 5000m and competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he finished 10th. He won the Valencia 10K in 2022, breaking
the 27-minute barrier for the first time.

In April, Ebenyo won the Berlin Half Marathon in warm conditions. This summer, he scored podium finishes at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta and the Boston 10K.

Birhanu Legese
Country: Ethiopia

P.B: 2:02:48
AGE:30

Birhanu Legese made his Abbott World Marathon Major debut in Chicago in 2018, finishing in 10th place, three and a half minutes behind winner Mo Farah. Less than three months later, Legese won the Tokyo Marathon. In September 2019, Legese was the runner-up to Kenenisa Bekele at the BMW Berlin Marathon.

His 2:02:48 is still the sixth-fastest marathon performance of all time. Legese repeated his Tokyo victory in 2020. He finished fifth and sixth place at the TCS London Marathon in 2021 and 2022. Earlier this year, he was third at the Rotterdam Marathon, 26 seconds behind Amedework Walelegn, who he will face again in Chicago.

Jorge Castelblanco
Country: Panama

AGE: 37
P.BEST: 2:09:24 (Seville, 2024)

Jorge Castelblanco broke his Panamanian record holder in the marathon earlier this year with a 2:09:24 finish in Seville. Unfortunately, sending him to the Paris Olympics was not enough, and he missed the chance to run his third consecutive Olympic Marathon.

In 2016, Castelblanco became the first runner from Panama to compete in the Olympic marathon. He also represented his country in the 2020 Tokyo Games. Castelblanco is a police officer who is married with a son.

Two other athletes with sub-2:05 times are in action: Ethiopians Dawit Wolde and Amedework Walelegn. Kenya’s John Korir set a personal best of 2:05:01 in finishing third in Chicago in 2022, while CJ Albertson and Zach Panning are among the U.S. athletes running on home soil.

Download the complete 2024 elite field roster (.pdf)

Source and photo: With information from World Athletics / © Getty Images

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