Correspondent Sean Hartnett has been on site to witness and report on the last 20 marathon World Records — 11 for men, and Ruth Chepngetich’s startling 2:09:56 at Chicago 2024 makes 9 for women.
A geographer by trade who 20-plus years ago provided detailed course maps and analysis to Paul Tergat as the XC and track great prepared for his successful assault on the men’s marathon WR in 2003, Hartnett has carried on his diligent study of “the geography of the marathon” ever since. No wonder that as he has consulted, gratis, with WR-setters and WMM- and major title winners (Haile Gebrselassie, the late Samuel Wanjiru and others) over the course of 2 decades, the 26-mile speedsters have come to know Sean as “Professor Marathon.”
What does the learned Prof make of the 2:09:56 time that, as we’ve all read, has elicited emphatic skepticism in some quarters? Sean’s opinions are his — T&FN takes no position — and you’ll learn what he thinks below.
It was not a complete surprise that Ruth Chepngetich broke the women’s World Record in the ’24 Chicago Marathon. Kelvin Kiptum proved that the Chicago route is World Record fast, and in her three previous races in Chicago Chepngetich had set off at WR pace. This time, Chepngetich’s career-long penchant for ballistic pacing paid off — big time.
Her barrier-busting 2:09:56 was a huge surprise to most — such a surprise that there is a lot of processing still going on. A record run like this comes at the confluence of many contributing factors: good weather, fast course, a very talented and well-prepared athlete, and shoes, shoes, shoes.
Yes, PED suspicion has become part of the discussion. Here is what we have: An athlete who has been at the top of her sport for 7 years, a world champion in ’19, a World Record-setter in the half-marathon in 2021, and has consistently ranked among the world’s fastest women marathoners since ’17.
(She earned her first T&FN World Ranking in ’18 and has Ranked 1, 2 or 3 each year since 2019 save for ’21 — when she DNFed at the Tokyo Olympics and won Chicago, though against a field devoid of others in contention for Rankings spots.)
Chepngetich has been tested a lot, and training in Ngong, a half-hour commute from Nairobi, there was no ducking, no hiding out.
The steady pattern of high-level performances suggests a steady passport, but that is speculation, as are most PED accusations at this point pending test results. What we can focus on are some other factors which may have contributed to such a magnificent performance.
No doubt, the 2:09:56 is further proof that the ever-evolving super shoes have been the fiberglass pole game-changers of the marathon. The key technical components of super-shoe construction are the visible thicker foam stack height and the invisible carbon plate.
The shoes perform better. Much better. They run fast and the improved shock absorbance and forward bounce combine to reduced skeletal impacts and muscle fatigue. This effectively shortens a marathon by 3 to 5 kilometers, and athletes hit the finish line before energy systems start shutting down. What results? An explosion of fast times.
Eight years into this innovation the shoes keep getting better, lighter and faster — if not a bit outrageous in appearance. With the variety of super shoe models available, athletes can experiment, matching their physique and stride mechanics with the perfect super-responder shoe.
Turns out 4% [the name Nike attached to its vaunted Vaporfly of ’17] was not an exaggeration of the shoes’ enhanced performance. In Chicago, Chepngetich raced in the purportedly latest and greatest swoosh footwear, the Alphafly 3. (It has also been reported she consumed one of the Maurten hydrogel carbohydrate products for the first time; perfectly legal, Maurten has been a supporting sponsor of the Chicago Marathon)
Super shoes have not only reduced fears of racing the marathon distance, they also support increased training volume and intensity. Like the stack and plate components, racing is the most visible display of shoe performance. Less visible is how the shoes have improved day-to-day training, and deliver fitter and healthier athletes to the starting line.
Practice makes perfect — consider that Kiptum and Chepngetich trained in super-shoes throughout the entirety of their professional careers, and both proved — or developed — to be super-responders.
The two Kenyans’ WR romps also suggest that Chicago’s hard, mostly concrete route may be a super responders’ paradise. The softer, primarily asphalt routes in Berlin and Valencia are valued for their fast and forgiving road surfaces. Concrete is harder and faster as less foot plant energy is absorbed by the road, but far less forgiving.
That is until super shoes. Now marathoners and sprinters alike prefer rock hard surfaces for maximum speed.
Beyond the concrete, Chicago’s course has become faster over the past few years with some tweaks to the route and growing trees and buildings that provide shelter from the wind and shade from the sun.
A few years back the course was extended further north such that the whole opening half features long straight stretches on rather narrow and protected streets. The middle section that runs out and back from the Loop to the Chicago stadium used to be wide open. Now it features maturing trees and dozens of new buildings — and virtually no wind on the day of Chepngetich’s WR.
The final 10K on the south side has seen the most improvement with the high-rise boom in the South Michigan Avenue neighborhood. The closing run up Michigan Avenue was shortened, reducing exposure to the prevailing headwinds.
Hats off to Carey Pinkowski and his race crew as the course now runs close to a minute faster than 5 years ago for Brigid Kosgei’s 2:14:04 WR.
Good race conditions also helped the cause. While it may have been a tad warm and humid for some, it was “just perfect” for Chepngetich who said she felt too cold last year and ran comfortably in the sweltering heat of her Doha World Championships win.
Whatever winds Chepngetich might have experienced on the course were mitigated by trees, buildings and very effective drafting behind her pacers Evans Mayaka and Barnabas Kiptum. From start to almost the finish, the trio ran in sync replicating the drafting techniques perfected by Eliud Kipchoge.
Like Tigst Assefa, WR-setter at Berlin ’23, Chepngetich’s pacers are also full-time training partners, and even as she tired at 35K, they remained fresh and steady, and certainly helped her finish off this record chase — astonishingly.
The final component is the athlete herself. Two months past her 30th birthday, Chepngetich is a hugely talented and accomplished athlete at a prime age for a marathoner. She also has the experience of coming up short in her last two WR attempts in Chicago with the drama played out on most every TV in Kenya.
Chepngetich lived that out, but it is the type of experience that can power a very determined athlete through five months of focused training, and 42 kilometers at breakneck pace.
This was by no means the first time that a supremely gifted, experienced and determined runner in the prime of their career has shattered a World Record — pending ratification.
Notably, while running shoe technology has produced a rapidly rising tide of performances, the WR efforts of Paula Radcliffe (2:15:25), Kosgei (2:14:04) Assefa (2:11:53) and now Chepngetich (2:09:56) all stand out as huge outliers rising above this tide and in my opinion worthy of their lofty WR status.
