CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, October 13 — John Korir continued his steady rise up the marathon ladder, bursting from a 7-man lead group at 32K and not letting up until he finished off his first WMM win in 2:02:43. The time made Korir the No. 6 all-time performer with the No. 12 all-time performance.
The 27-year-old Korir’s negative split 62:19/60:25 effort came close to matching Kelvin Kiptum’s torrid closing speed in last year’s World Record run, not by accident.
“I was inspired by his times last year so I was saying to push it and see how fast I can run,” he said.
The 27-year-old younger brother of 2012 Boston winner Wesley Korir began his marathon career in 2018 with a 2:09:41 debut to finish 2nd in Ottawa. He won a pair of Los Angeles Marathons in 2021 (2:12:49) and ’22 (2:09:08), then moved up to the Majors running a 2:05:01 to take 3rd at Chicago in 2022. Last year Korir finished 4th in Chicago (2:05:09) and matched that placing this past April in Boston.
Along the way John picked up Wesley’s coach at Louisville, Ron Mann, who with the help of former U.S. Army runner Haron Lagat has guided Korir’s development.
Following the old school formula of road racing to the starting line, Korir racked impressive course record wins at the Utica Boilermaker (15K in 42:11) in July, and a month later at the Falmouth Road Race.
Coach Mann saw great value in those races, noting, “John had been 3rd and 4th here in Chicago, but you got to learn how to win, and winning all those road races, he learned to win. We knew he could run 2:02, it was just execution today, and it was a great run.”
Korir’s great run was set up by a very effective pacing crew that ran the targeted 2:57K pace with precision, escorting the 10- man lead pack through the opening 10K in 30:28 (2:04:20 pace) and staying steady through 25K (1:13:47 – 2:04:30 pace).
Korir and the Kenyan pair of 2:03:13 marathoners Amos Kipruto and Vincent Kipkemoi nudged the pacers ahead through a 14:31 5K segment to reach 30K in 1:28:18 (2:04:12 pace) with seven racers still in contention.
After the pacers stepped aside, Korir seemed anxious to step up the pace but waited. “My brother told me to be patient and wait,” he said later. That patience lasted 2 kilometers as Korir took off at the 32K post (1:32:07) and sprinted away from the field, reaching 35K in 1:42:19 (2:03:21 pace).
Splitting 8:12 over his 3K attack Korir blew open the race, forging a 29-second lead and looking very much like he knew how to win as he continued to crank out sub 2:50 kilometers.
“I was thinking that I got this,” he said. “I was keeping control. I came here for the win, I was not coming for time. I saw that my time was good but Kiptum was running faster last year, so I was saying to push it and see how fast I can run.”
Turns out pretty fast, as Korir kept a high tempo through a 14:08 5K segment leading to 40K (1:56:27 —2:02:50 pace) and closed out his run splitting 28:36 over the final 10,195. That’s an average of 2:48.4 per K and just 12 seconds slower than Kiptum’s 28:24 last year.
“My training was very good,” Korir said. “I train both in Kenya and the U.S.” He produced the most significant win for the ASICS Chojo Camp in Kaptagat, and also spent time in Colorado. “When I was training my coach told me, ‘You can run 2:02,’ so I believed in him, and I now have run 2:02.”
Ethiopian Mohamed Esa, this year’s Boston runner-up, finished 2nd in 2:04:39, with Kipruto 3rd at 2:04:50.
CJ Albertson was top American, finishing 7th in a PR 2:08:17. Albertson moved past fast-starting Zach Panning (10th) in the final kilometers.
CHICAGO MEN’S RESULTS
1. John Korir (Ken) 2:02:43 (6, x W) (1:02:19/1:00:25) ($100,000);
2. Mohamed Esa (Eth) 2:04:39 PR; 3. Amos Kipruto (Ken) 2:04:50; 4. Vincent Kipkemoi (Ken) 2:05:16; 5. Daniel Ebenyo (Ken) 2:06:04 PR; 6. Kyohei Hosoya (Jpn) 2:07:20; 7. CJ Albertson (US) 2:08:17 (8, x A) (1:03:20/1:04:57) ($15,000); 8. Toshiki Sadakata (Jpn) 2:08:22; 9. Alex Masai (Ken) 2:08:51 (debut); 10. Zach Panning (US) 2:09:16 PR;
11. Yuichi Yasui (Jpn) 2:10:11; 12. Reed Fischer (US) 2:10:14 PR; 13. Brian Shrader (US) 2:10:25; 14. Dawit Wolde Arega (Eth) 2:10:53; 15. Shadrack Kipchirchir (US) 2:11:05 PR;
16. Tatsuya Maruyama (Jpn) 2:11:07; 17. Alex Maier (US) 2:11:24 (debut); 18. Turner Wiley (US) 2:11:55 PR; 19. Charlie Sweeney (US) 2:12:23 PR; 20. J.P. Flavin (US) 2:12:34 PR;… 22. Colin Mickow (US) 2:14:10;… 24. Nathan Martin (US) 2:14:48; 25. Ben Kendell (US) 2:15:11.
