Ruth Chepngetich breaks marathon world record as Nike overtakes Adidas in super shoe war

Ruth Chepngetich is the first woman to run a marathon in under 2 hours and 10 minutes, breaking the previous world record by almost two minutes – one of the most extraordinary distance running feats of all time.

The 30-year-old Kenyan immediately dedicated the victory to her compatriot Kelvin Kiptum, who exactly a year ago became the first man to clock under 2 hours and 1 minute in the same race before he died in a car accident in February.

The 2:10 mark has long been considered insurmountable for a woman – and her finish time of 2:09:56 is more than five minutes faster than Paula Radcliffe's 2003 world record, which stood for 16 years.

Furthermore, it has only been surpassed by 22 British men.

This was Chepngetich's third win at the Chicago Marathon and such was her dominance that she finished almost eight minutes ahead of Ethiopia's Sutume Kebede, beating her personal best by almost five minutes.

“It's a time we can't really understand – a time we never thought possible,” said Britain's Jo Pavey, the former European 10,000m champion, who was commentating on the race for Eurosport.

Like Kiptum, Chepngetich also wore the Nike Alphafly 3 'super shoe' to beat the world record of 2:11:53 set by Ethiopian Tigst Assefa in Berlin last year wearing a £400 pair of Adidas Pro Evo 1s. Assefa's victory sparked a new phase in the battle of carbon-coated road trainers that have transformed distance running, but Nike now holds both world records once again. The Alphafly 3s – with their air bladder and ZoomX foam – went on general sale earlier this year for £284.99.

“I dedicate this world record to Kelvin Kiptum,” said Chepngetich. “I'm so happy. I don't know how to explain it. The world record is my dream that has now come true. I struggled a lot when I thought about the world record and now I have fulfilled it. I'm so grateful. This year the weather was perfect and I prepared well. The world record was on my mind.”

Another Kenyan, John Korir, won the men's race on Sunday in 2:02:43, setting the sixth-fastest marathon time in history.

Kiptum ran the men's world record of 2:00:35 last year. Eliud Kipchoge, the former men's world record holder, ran under two hours in a special race in Vienna in 2019, but that doesn't count as the official time.

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