Oct 11 (Reuters) - Ethiopian Hawi Feysa retained her Chicago Marathon crown in a heavyweight clash with Kenya's Sharon Lokedi on Sunday, breaking the tape in two hours, 13 minutes and 33 seconds, while Kenya's Amos Kipruto dominated the men's race in 2:01:09.
The back-to-back Boston winner Lokedi (2:14:07) battled with Feysa through much of the final six miles of the course but could not hang on as the Ethiopian slammed her foot on the gas in the final mile.
Kenya's Brigid Kosgei was third in 2:14:55.
Lokedi and Feysa pulled away from the lead pack around the 30-kilometre mark, taking advantage of pristine conditions on the famously speedy course, before engaging in a tense cat-and-mouse battle that saw them trade the lead on multiple occasions from there.
Feysa, who picked up her second bronze finish in Tokyo earlier this year, crumpled after crossing the line, telling a TV reporter she was "elated" with her successful title defence.
"It certainly became quite a battle (around 33 kilometres)," she said via a translator. "Around 35k I became pretty sure I had this in the bag."
Kipruto exacted revenge in the men's race after his second-place finish a year ago, adding another marathon major title following his London win four years ago.
Kipruto finished 91 seconds behind Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo in 2025 but flipped the script this time around, running all by himself through the final straight after a tactically flawless performance.
Ethiopian Tadese Bikila crossed the line in 2:02:56 while his compatriot Milkesa Mengesha (2:03:46) was third.
Kipruto and Kiplimo (2:04:18) were leading the field by 16 seconds at 30-kilometre mark but the Ugandan fell off the pace shortly after, slipping to fourth as the Kenya cruised through much of the last chunk of the course alone.
"I was here to fight," said Kipruto. Everything is all about the mindset. It was a tough field but I set my mind on it, I said 'Let's go.'"
Switzerland's Catherine Debrunner shattered her own women's wheelchair world record, breaking the tape in 1:33:16 to knock a minute off the previous mark she set in Berlin three years ago. Her compatriot Marcel Hug collected his seventh Chicago Marathon win in the men's wheelchair race in a course record 1:21:34.
"The crowd definitely helped me so much," said Debrunner. "I'm pretty speechless, to be honest, I had no expected to make a world record here at all."
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New YorkEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
