The penultimate Abbott World Marathon Major of the season will take place in Chicago this weekend as 40,000 competitors bid to make the most of what is widely regarded as one of the fastest circuits on the calendar.
Second only to Berlin in terms of flatness, the Bank of America Chicago Marathon has already produced four world records, several national records and countless personal bests – and there are high hopes that others could tumble with a high-class field lined up on the shores of Lake Michigan for what will be the 47th running of the event.
Indeed, the Chicago Marathon currently holds the men’s and women’s world records, with Kelvin Kiptum setting the men’s record at 2:00:35 in 2023, and Ruth Chepngetich setting the women’s record at 2:09:56 last year.
With the likes of Tokyo, Boston, London, Sydney, and Berlin already completed this year, it means that only the New York event on Sunday, November 2, will remain of this season’s Marathon Majors after this weekend.
Here is everything you need to know about the big race in Chicago…
Start time and how to watch live
There is an early start for all competitors this weekend, with the Men’s Professional Wheelchair race starting at 7.20am CDT (1.20pm UK time) and the women’s race just one minute later. These will then be followed by the Handcycling at 7.23am CDT (1.23pm UK time).
Both the Men’s and Women’s Professional runners will get underway at 7.30am CDT (1.30pm UK time), with the High Performance Programme setting off two minutes later.
There is then a series of three separate waves of amateur runners – taking the field up to 40,000 in number – who start to head out at 7.35am CDT (1.35pm UK time), with the final group underway an hour later at 8.35am CDT (2.35pm UK time)
The event will be screened live via NBC 5 Chicago, Telemundo Chicago and TeleXitos, with broadcasts on air from 7am through to 11am CDT (1pm to 5pm UK time). A live stream will be available at nbcchicago.com and telemundochicago.com as well as on the NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago apps, and on the stations’ Roku and Apple TV channels, from 7am to 3pm CDT (1pm to 7pm UK time).
The Chicago Marathon course
The race starts and finishes in Grant Park and takes runners on a 26.2-mile tour of the ‘Windy City’, stretching through 29 of its diverse neighbourhoods, such as the Loop, Uptown and the West Side.
While almost entirely flat, there is a small, short incline near the end of the course, but this is not considered significant enough to slow runners down as they push for the line.
Crowds of up to 1.7 million spectators are expected to cheer on the athletes, while a course completion time limit of 6 hours and 30 minutes – a 15-minute mile pace – has been set for those taking part.
Men’s Professional field – Korir seeks record
The world-class professional field is headed by Kenya’s John Korir, whose dominant 2024 victory, in a time of 2:02:44, was the second-fastest in race history and was then followed up with a convincing win at the Boston Marathon in April of this year.
As the eighth-fastest man in marathon history, he has stated a desire to run a sub-2:01 race this year, a feat only accomplished by the late Kelvin Kiptum when he set the world record of 2:00:35 in Chicago in 2023.
Korir will, however, face stiff competition from six men who have each broken 2:04.
Kenya’s Timothy Kiplagat, second at last year’s Tokyo Marathon, is the second-fastest man in the field with a personal best of 2:02:55, while fellow Kenyans Amos Kipruto (2:03:13), third in Chicago last year, and CyBrian Kotut (2:03:22), third in Boston, will also look to challenge.
Two-time Olympic marathon medalist Bashir Abdi (2:03:36) of Belgium, Jacob Kiplimo (2:03:37) of Uganda, the world record holder in the half marathon, will come to Chicago for his second career marathon start, and two-time New York City Marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworwor of Kenya makes his Chicago debut after setting a personal best of 2:04:33 with a victory in the Rotterdam Marathon in April.
Women’s Professional field – Feysa and Alemu head line-up
Hawi Feysa (2:17:00), who took third at the Tokyo Marathon earlier this year, will make her Chicago debut this weekend, while fellow Ethiopian Megertu Alemu (2:16:34) will be looking to claim her first victory on American soil.
Other notables on the women’s side include Irine Cheptai (2:17:51) of Kenya, who was third in Chicago last year; Bedatu Hirpa (2:18:27) of Ethiopia, who earned her personal best in Dubai earlier this year; Haven Hailu Desse (2:19:17) of Ethiopia, who finished fourth in the 2025 London Marathon; and Calli Hauger-Thackery (2:21:24), the second-fastest British marathoner, who will race Chicago for the first time.
