2018 Chicago MarathonOct 7, 2018 by Johanna Gretschel
2018 Chicago Marathon Play-By-Play
2018 Chicago Marathon Play-By-Play
Follow along for real-time updates from the press room at the 2018 Chicago Marathon.
The 2018 Chicago Marathon begins at 7:30 a.m. central—keep your browser refreshed in this spot to read live mile-by-mile updates of the action from the press room in Chi-Town.
If you're in Ireland and/or the U.K., you can watch the stream live here.
Catch up on top storylines and elite athletes to watch in the race preview here.
See what Galen Rupp, Mo Farah and the rest of the elite athletes had to say in press conference videos here.
| Women | |
| Mile | |
| 1 | 5:07 opener. Cameras are only following the men right now so unsure of the leader. |
| 2 | 10:38 cumulative time. Large pack of women right now. |
| 3 | 16:10 cumulative time. 16:47 for 5K. Florence Kiplagat leads a pack of six Africans up front. Laura Thweatt, Gwen Jorgensen, Alexi Pappas and Sarah Crouch are about a minute back, split 17:59 through 5K in 8-11 places. |
| 4 | 21:29 cumulative time. |
| 5 | 26:47 cumulative time. |
| 6 | 32:09 cumulative time. 33:24 10K split, Brigid Kosgei now leads but it's still a pack of six up front. The American women are now more than two minutes back; Laura Thweatt splits 35:54 with Crouch and Jorgensen right with her and Pappas a few seconds back. |
| 7 | 37:29 cumulative time. |
| 8 | 42:44 cumulative time. |
| 9 | 48:03 cumulative time. 49:49 15K split. |
| 10 | 53:27 cumulative time. Thweatt is still the top American, splits 57:22, which is 2:30 pace. |
| 11 | 58:48 cumulative time. |
| 12 | 64:12 cumulative time. A group of sub-elite men led the top women's group in earlier miles, but now they're tucked in behind the Africans—who are still projected to run in the very low 2:20s. 1:06:28 split through 20K; officials on the race truck say that it continues to rain and the temperature has dropped 5 to 8 degrees. Roza Dereje and Brigid Kosgei lead with Dibaba, Kiplagat and Demise in tow. Thweatt has dropped off pace and Sarah Crouch is now the lead American with a 1:11:16 split at 20K. |
| 13 | Kosgei leads at halfway in 1:10:09 with Dereje, Dibaba, Demise, Kiplagat. Crouch is five minutes back in 1:15:10 with Taylor Ward (1:15:37) overtaking Gwen Jorgensen (1:15:48 split). Laura Thweatt appears to have dropped out. |
| 14 | 1:14:55 cumulative time. |
| 15 | 1:20:24 cumulative time. The group of six are still making quick time, with a current projected finish of 2:20:31. Split for 25K is 1:23:26. |
| 16 | 1:25:51 cumulative time. Race management has announced that Laura Thweatt has officially DNFed. This was her first marathon since running 2:25 at the 2017 London Marathon; she was sidelined with osteitis pubis for much of the time since then. At 25K, Kosgei 1:23:29 1:29:06. |
| 17 | 1:31:20 cumulative time. |
| 18 | 1:36:40 cumulative time. |
| 19 | 1:41:41 cumulative time. The front pack has shrunk to just two women, Kosgei and Dereje, as two-time Chicago champion Florence Kiplagat drops off the pace. Crouch is still the top American woman about two minutes back. |
| 20 | 1:46:48 cumulative time. Brigid Kosgei is now well clear of the field (20+ seconds) and after taking runner-up honors to Vivan Cheruyiot in London and Tirunesh Dibaba in Chicago last year, she looks poised to win her first major today. Her PB is 2:20:13 from London and she is currently on 2:20-flat pace! Top American Sarah Crouch splits 1:54:47. |
| 21 | 1:51:49 for Brigid Kosgei. |
| 22 | 1:56:51 cumulative time. Kosgei has almost a minute on second place, who appears to still be Dereje. |
| 23 | The men just finished so we haven't got many updates from the women's race... Kosgei is now on pace for 2:19! She is speeding up and catching men all by herself. Top American Sarah Crouch splits 2:12:26 for 23 miles, 2:30:58 pace. |
| 24 | 2:07:00 cumulative time for Kosgei; 2:11:23 for 40K |
| 25 | 2:12:07 cumulative for Kosgei, projected finish time of 2:18:37—which would make her the seventh-fastest woman in world history! |
| 26 | 2:17:27 cumulative time...so close! |
| FINISH | WOW! 2:18:35 for Brigid Kosgei! Her first world major win, her first time under 2:20 and she did it in style. The 24-year-old is now the seventh-fastest woman in world history. The shocking run also gives her the win by an entire three minutes over the field. Roza Dereje of Ethiopia takes second in 2:21:18 and Shure Demise is third in 2:22:15. Two-time champion Kiplagat, who was sidelined with injury and a nasty spider bite for much of the year, runs 2:26:08 for fourth place. Sarah Crouch finishes as the top American with a personal best of 2:32:37 for sixth place. Taylor Ward is seventh in 2:32:42, a three-minute personal best. Gwen Jorgensen takes ninth in 2:36:23, certainly not what she wanted but a four-minute PB. |
| Men | |
| Mile | |
| 1 | Rupp and Farah are up at the front behind the pace-setters. 4:46 split |
| 2 | 9:33 cumulative (4:47 mile split). Mo Farah and Abel Kirui with a slight lead on the pack |
| 3 | 14:20 cumulative time. 14:52 for 5K. 10 men in the lead pack, including Rupp and Farah. Parker Stinson is in the chase pack. |
| 4 | 19:08 cumulative time. |
| 5 | 23:54 cumulative time. Pack is still all together but the chase group with Stinson appears to have dropped off a bit. |
| 6 | 28:57 cumulative time. 10K split is 30:11. Reports from the field indicate there is a very strong headwind and it is beginning to rain. |
| 7 | 33:51 cumulative time. |
| 8 | 38:34 cumulative time. |
| 9 | 43:44 cumulative time. 15K split is 45:00. |
| 10 | 48:16 cumulative time. Large pack with Abel Kirui and Geoffrey Kirui at the front. Rupp just behind. |
| 11 | 52:58 cumulative time. Pack is starting to spread out with Geoffrey Kirui pulling even with the pacemakers and Abel Kirui just behind. Rupp is drafting off Farah. |
| 12 | 57:45 cumulative time. 20K split is 59:49. |
| 13 | 62:30. 63:02 at halfway—a bit off |
| 14 | 1:07:15 split for pacers, 1:07:22 for lead pack which still includes everybody except Augustine Choge, who appears to have dropped out. His last recorded split was 49:22 at 15K and he had slowed to 5:58 mile pace. |
| 15 | 1:12:33 cumulative time for the pack. 25K split is 1:15:18 with A. Kirui, Rupp, G. Kirui, et. al. |
| 16 | 1:17:28 cumulative time. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | 1:26:47 cumulative time. Still waiting for this to get interesting—Geoffrey Kirui is starting to get a slight lead but the pack of eight is just a stride or two behind. 30K split is 1:29:43. |
| 19 | 1:31:16 cumulative time. A pack of four is starting to pull away—Geoffrey Kirui, Birhanu Legese, and I believe Gerenew Bayih plus one more... Rupp leads the chase pack with Suguru, Mo trying to hang on. |
| 20 | 1:36:00 cumulative time. Kenneth Kipkemoi now leads Geoffrey Kirui, Geremew and Legese with Rupp, Farah and Suguru in a secondary pack. Kipkemoi has only run two marathons: a 2:17 back in 2013, and a 2:05 victory in Rotterdam this year. |
| 21 | 1:40:41 cumulative time. The pack has grown again, as Farah makes a move to lead side-by-side with Kipkemoi. Rupp and Suguru have also rejoined the group. |
| 22 | Rupp is falling off the lead group, which now consists of G. Kirui, Farah, Osako, Kipkemoi and Geremew. 35K split is 1:44:10/22 mile cumulative time is 1:45:22. |
| 23 | 1:50:03 cumulative time. Rupp about a minute back in 1:51:06 |
| 24 | 1:54:45 cumulative time. Farah vs. Geremew with Osako and Kipkemoi starting to fall back. Rupp is well behind now. |
| 25 | 1:59:25 cumulative time—into a headwind, no less! Two man race now between Mo Farah and Mosinet Geremew, who ran 2:04 in Dubai this year. Galen Rupp splits 2:00:00. |
| 26 | |
| FINISH | SIR Mo is the champion!!! 2:05:11 absolutely crushes the European record, set last year by Sondre Moen in 2:05:48. That is the eighth-fastest mark in Chicago Marathon history. Geremew takes second in 2:05:25, Osako third in 2:05:50, Kipkemoi fourth in 2:05:57, Rupp takes fifth in 2:06:21 and G. Kirui sixth in 2:06:45. Osako earns a huge payday (100 million yen) for breaking the Japanese record of 2:06:11. Rupp wanted to win today above all, but perhaps the defending champ can take some solace in improving his 2017 time by exactly three minutes. |