At last year’s Chicago Marathon, the late Kelvin Kiptum stormed out to a furious lead, somehow didn’t slow down, and finished in a world record time of 2:00:35 — in a pair of then-unreleased Nike Alphafly 3s.
At this year’s race in Chicago, it was almost déjà vu. But this time, on the women’s side.
Ruth Chepngetich, led by two pacemakers, went out at a blistering pace on Sunday. Despite slightly slowing down in the second half of the race, she found another gear and broke Tigst Assefa’s world record by nearly 2 minutes, running 2:09:56.
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Her shoe of choice? The Nike Alphafly 3. The marathoning super shoe, which was released in January of this year, retails for £285.
Chepngetich finished more than seven minutes ahead of the runner-up, Ethiopia’s Sutume Kebede. Kebede, who ran 2:17:32, looked to be sporting a pair of the On Cloudboom Strike racers.
Meanwhile, Irine Cheptai of Kenya finished just behind in 2:17:51, also in a pair of the Nike Alphafly 3.
Asics and Brooks athletes also had good days in Chicago.
John Korir ran a personal best of 2:02:44 to win the men’s race. He was seen sporting a new Asics prototype shoe that we speculate is the Metaspeed Sky 4.
Other high-performing Asics athletes at Chicago included Americans Lindsay Flanagan and Emma Bates. Flanagan was the second American to cross the line, posting a 2:23:31 for ninth place. She and Bates (11th in 2:24:00) were both wearing the Metaspeed Edge 4 prototype known as “ME4 TYPE-P” on the World Athletics shoe database. It was approved for competition by World Athletics on September 18.
Brooks also had a solid presence in the top 10. Susanna Sullivan led the American women with a 6th place finish in 2:21:56. She was sporting a development version of the Hyperion Elite 4.
Adidas, meanwhile, had a surprisingly quiet day in Chicago, with only Amos Kipruto of Kenya making the podium on the men's side, finishing third in 2:04:50. Kipruto looked to be wearing the new Adizero Adios Pro 4.
