As tens of thousands of runners made their way through the streets of Chicago, the world's best marathoners were at the front chasing history.

On a beautiful morning for a 26.2-mile run, a pair of Kenyan juggernauts added to their legacy, winning the 2024 Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

• Subscribe To FloTrack To Watch Track And Field, Marathons, And Cross Country All Season
• 2024 Bank of America Chicago Marathon Results
• Ruth Chepngetich Smashes World Record At Chicago Marathon
• A Year Later: Kelvin Kiptum's World Record At Chicago Marathon

 A year after the late Kelvin Kiptum shattered the world record, expectations were high for the contingent of men who were following in his legendary footsteps. 

In typical marathon fashion, there was a large pack of contenders at the halfway mark, with eventual winner John Korir of Kenya at the forefront. Coming through in 1:02:19, Ethiopia's Dawit Wode Arega and Korir's countrymen Amos Kipruto, and Daniel Ebenyo all hit 13.1 simultaneously, all on pace for quick times.

In-between the 25k and 30k mark, Korir finally was able to drop the rest of the field, creating a gap of just under 30 seconds. By the time Korir found himself coming down the homestretch, he had put just over two minutes of breathing room between Huseydin Mohamed Esa and Amos Kipruto who finished second and third, respectively. 

Korir broke the tape in 2:02:44, while Esa and Kipruto clocked 2:04:39 and 2:04:50, making Korir the sixth-fastest man in world history, and the second-fastest ever performance in Chicago. 

On the women's side, Kenyan star Ruth Chepngetich won her third Chicago Marathon in record-breaking fashion, as the 30-year-old obliterated the previous world record of 2:11:53.

Chepngetich took the pace out hot from the gun, coming through 5k and 10k in 15:00 and 30:20, putting her well under world record pace very early on. 

As Chepngetich reached the half-marathon mark, she was all by her lonesome in 1:04:16, still on pace for 2:08:32, which still would have shattered the world record.

Ethiopia's Sutume Asefa Kebede and Kenya's Joyciline Jepkosgei had put together gaps of their own, as Kebede was just 14 seconds back of Chepngetich, while Jepkosgei split 1:07:30.

After doing the entirety of the work and pushing herself from the moment the clock started ticking, Ruth Chepngetich was rewarded with the fastest marathon performance in world history, becoming the first woman to break 2:10:00, running 2:09:56.

Despite slowing down considerably over the latter half of the race, Kebede clocked 2:17:32, roughly two minutes shy of her lifetime best. The final spot on the podium went to Irine Cheptai of Kenya, who ran 2:17:51 after moving erasing the 49-second deficit that Jepkosgei had developed.

After Chepngetich's historic run, the top-five fastest marathon times in world history have all been from the Chicago Marathon. 

American marathoners had themselves a day as well, as CJ Albertson and Zach Panning threw down big PB's of 2:08:17 and 2:09:16, finishing 7th and 9th overall, respectively. Reed Fischer was the third American man to cross the line, running 2:10:14 for another PB.

Susanna Sullivan was the top American woman on the day, followed by Lindsay Flanagan and Emma Bates, who finished 10th, 57th, and 60th overall, respectively. The trio ran 2:21:56, 2:23:31, and 2:24:00. 

Sullivan, a full-time teacher, shaved over two minutes off of her previous best.

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