The Chicago Marathon brings big names to the open men's and women's wheelchair fields – NBC Chicago

Bank of America Chicago Marathon officials announced several new entries this week, including a handful who have a real chance of crossing the finish line first next weekend.

New additions to the men's open division include Ethiopian Birhanu Legese, whose 2:02:48 at the 2019 Berlin Marathon is the fastest personal best of any runner in the field.

In recent years he has finished in the top five in Tokyo, Valencia and London and placed fourth at the 2023 Amsterdam Marathon with a time of 2:04:43.

Only three runners in this year's men's field achieved times faster than this, with Kenya's Amos Kipruto and Vincent Ngetich each setting personal best times of 2:03:13.

Two Japanese runners will also join the field: Kyohei Hosoya (2:06:35) and Toshiki Sadakata (2:07:05).

American runner Shadrack Kipchirchir, who won the 10,000-meter run at the USA Cross Country Championships in 2022 and competed in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, will also join the field.

The Bank of America Chicago Marathon is expected to have another record year in 2024.

In the women's wheelchair class, American Michelle Wheeler leads the list of newcomers with a personal best time of 1:45:45. Egypt's Hoda Elshorbagy, who set a career best of 1:58:38 at last year's Chicago Marathon, will also be at the start, along with American trio Eva Houston, Hanna Dederick and Rachel Cleaver.

In the men's wheelchair class, Canadian Josh Cassidy will join the field with the second-best personal best time on the board, just behind Marcel Hug's world record performance of 1:17:47 in Oita in 2021.

Japan's Hiroki Nishida, with a personal best of 1:20:28, is also in the field, as are Spain's Jordi Madera and Japan's Tomoki Suzuki, all of whom could be fighting for top spots on the medal table.

Also taking part are Americans Evan Correll and Jason Robinson, as well as Grant Pierce, who set a career best in the marathon last year.

Vanessa De Souza dropped out of the field in the women's wheelchair class,

Mary Ngugi-Cooper dropped out of the women's open division, as did Americans Andrea Pomaranski and Nell Rojas and Kenya's Dorcas Tuitoek.

Isai Rodriguez should have made his major marathon debut but had to withdraw from the men's open division.

A complete overview of the field can be found on the marathon website and the NBC Chicago app.

The 2024 Bank of America Chicago Marathon will start on October 13th in Chicago's Grant Park. You can follow full coverage on NBC Chicago, Telemundo Chicago, both networks' mobile apps, the NBC Chicago 24/7 Streaming News channel on Roku, and a variety of other services.