In the run-up to this year’s Bank of America Chicago Marathon 2023, expectations were sky-high for the defending champion, Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich. The 29-year-old marathon runner had won the esteemed competition for two consecutive years, with an impressive time of 2:22:31 in the 2021 edition and 2:14:18 in the 2022 edition. During that time, Chepngetich also made rounds online, as she was just 14 seconds away from surpassing the previous world record set by Brigid Kosgei, a fellow Kenyan, with a time of 2.14:04.
This year, she headed into the marathon heavily favored to win the gold but struggled to compete with a strong rival, Sifan Hassan, who overtook her at the 17th mile of the race to deny what would have been her third Chicago marathon title.
Sifan Hassan’s latest endeavors
Hassan entered the marathon scene rather late compared to most of her competitors. Despite being new to running the dreaded 26.2-mile marathon, Hassan’s abilities proved to be more than sufficient, as she outpaced every other runner in the TCS London Marathon last April and ran a Dutch national record of 2:18:33, claiming the gold medal for her first marathon.
And this time proved to be no different than her last marathon, as she was able to shake off her rivals as she ran to victory in a record-breaking time of 2:13:44, the second fastest marathon time in history, behind only Tigist Assefa’s Berlin record of 2:11:53.
Hassan vs. Chepngetich
Chepngetich began the race with a commanding lead, reaching the 10-kilometer mark in a time of 31:05. At the same time, Hassan followed in close pursuit of the Kenyan reigning champion, gradually closing in on the lead until the 15-kilometer mark.
It took nearly an hour for the two runners to share the lead in the marathon race. However, at the 17th mile, Sifat made a decisive move to overtake Chepngetich and remain in the lead for the rest of the race. By the 30th kilometer, Hassan had increased her lead to 10 seconds, securing her position as the leader.
Near the end of the race, Sifat Hassan ran to the might of her abilities and, for the second time around, broke off the tape at the end of the finish line with a time of 2:13:44.
Chepngetich settled in for second place with a time of 02:15:37, while Ethiopia’s Megertu Alemu came in third with a time of 02:17:09.
“I just love the pain, and the time was like you hate yourself, but the way you finish, you want to do it again. It is so amazing. I don’t know, I loved it. It is my second marathon and I win, and that’s unbelievable. I can’t describe how I feel,” Sifat Hassan said in an interview with NBC Chicago.
Who is Hassan—the woman who stunned the defending champion?
Sifat Hassan is an Ethiopian-born Dutch track and field athlete.
She has, for her entire career, specialized in middle- and long-distance running, and she’s received many accolades over the years, placing within the top three and climbing the podium in most of the competitions she’s joined. But, perhaps, her most notable achievement came in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where she won two gold medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m medals and a bronze medal in the 1500m. Most recently, she also competed in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, where she was able to medal a silver in the 5000m and a bronze in the 1500m.
The photo above is from a YouTube screengrab