{"id":289405,"date":"2025-10-09T14:12:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T14:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/289405\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T14:12:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T14:12:14","slug":"top-athletes-storylines-to-watch-at-the-2025-chicago-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/289405\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Athletes & Storylines To Watch At The 2025 Chicago Marathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fields assembled may not get the better of either mark, particularly with warmer temperatures in the forecast, but it\u2019s still very possible that we\u2019ll see some very fast times, particularly on the men\u2019s side, with six entrants in the field sporting personal bests under 2:04. The most publicized record chase will be Conner Mantz<\/strong>\u2019s pursuit of the American record, which is officially Khalid Khannouchi\u2019s 2:05:38 or, when including non-record-eligible times, Ryan Hall\u2019s 2:04:58.<\/p>\n

The elite races get underway on Sunday, October 12th at 7:30am CDT. NBC 5 Chicago will broadcast the race live on television beginning at 7am CDT and the live stream will be available at nbcchicago.com<\/a>. You can follow along with live results here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

_______________________________<\/p>\n

The CITIUS MAG team is taking over Happy Camper Pizza in Old Town (1209 North Wells Street) with HOKA during the Chicago Marathon festivities. On Sunday morning, we\u2019ll be posted up as part of the HOKA cheer zone to host our alternate broadcast watchalong, where Eric Jenkins, Karen Lesiewicz, Paul Hof-Mahoney, and other guests will be providing their own commentary, reactions, insights and analysis live as the elite races unfold (stream starting at 7:15am CDT).<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll also be hosting group runs, poster-making sessions, and more with HOKA over the next few days \u2013 you can find the\u00a0full schedule of events and RSVP info here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

_______________________________<\/p>\n

The Course And The Weather<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Chicago is famously the flattest and fastest of the three American majors, with none of Boston\u2019s rolling hills or New York\u2019s towering bridges. The course<\/a>, which begins and ends at Grant Park, travels north for eight miles parallel to Lake Michigan before twice looping back downtown in a double-L shape.<\/p>\n

Despite its Windy City moniker, the forecast only calls for a breeze of 5-10 MPH from the southeast on race day, and shouldn\u2019t be a huge factor. The bigger concern will likely be the temperature \u2013 although the last few days have seen some good news, as the forecast has trended cooler and the high is now only 67 degrees Fahrenheit. That\u2019s perfectly workable but not totally ideal marathoning conditions \u2013 the 66% humidity may make things feel a bit warmer \u2013 and if the trend continues, the heat shouldn\u2019t be a huge factor.<\/p>\n

_______________________________<\/p>\n

The Reigning Champ Vs. The Talented Newcomer<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

The 2024 champ John Korir<\/strong> is back to defend his crown, and this year he\u2019s coming to town riding even higher, having won this year\u2019s Boston Marathon in between. With another Chicago win, Korir would strengthen the case for world #1 status in a fluid men\u2019s marathoning scene that hasn\u2019t yet found a true successor to Kiptum or peak Eliud Kipchoge. Korir has a great record of success at Chicago, finishing fourth in 2023 and third in 2022 before his breakout race last year, and at 28 years old, he\u2019s likely just entering his prime.<\/p>\n

But Korir has his work cut out for him in the form of Uganda\u2019s Jacob Kiplimo.<\/strong> The 2023 World 10,000m medalist and two-time World XC champ has already put together a strong career on the track and grass, but once he began tackling the half marathon, it became immediately clear that Kiplimo\u2019s future lay on the roads. Officially only 24 years old, Kiplimo has already twice broken the world record over 13.1 miles, running 57:31 in 2021 and then becoming the first man in history under 57 minutes with a mind-boggling 56:42 in Barcelona this past February.<\/p>\n

Kiplimo made his hotly-anticipated marathon debut in fine form, running 2:03:37 behind Sabastian Sawe in London this spring. After all the hype around his compatriot Joshua Cheptegei\u2019s switch to the marathon, Kiplimo is now the Ugandan national record holder at the distance and it sure seems like the sky is the limit. He\u2019s only raced once since London, a 58:29 victory at the Buenos Aires Half Marathon in August over 2021 Chicago champ Seifu Tura, but it\u2019s fair to assume he\u2019s ready for a fast time. Given Kiplimo\u2019s upside, it\u2019s entirely possible that Korir could run the race of his life and still get beat, but if you\u2019re betting on experience, Korir is still your guy.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s race is no two-man battle for gold, however. Timothy Kiplagat<\/strong>, the 2024 Tokyo Marathon runner-up, joins Korir as the member of the sub-2:03 club in this field, and if the rabbits take things out hot, all eyes will be on Kiplagat, Korir, and Kiplimo. But Kiplagat hasn\u2019t raced since a low-key half marathon in February, so who knows what kind of form he\u2019ll bring to Chicago.<\/p>\n

Fellow Kenyan Amos Kipruto<\/strong>, who finished third last year, has four WMM podium finishes on his card, and Ethiopian Mohamed Esa<\/strong>, the man who finished between Kipruto and Korir last year, is also on the list. Bashir Abdi<\/strong> of Belgium is a reliable contender for podium finishes, most recently taking silver at the Paris Olympics, and while Geoffrey Kamworor<\/strong>\u2019s best marathoning days may be behind him, he\u2019s still a two-time NYC champ who finished on a Major podium as recently at 2023 (second in London).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fields assembled may not get the better of either mark, particularly with warmer temperatures in the forecast,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":289406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,136666,148603,148592,148604,148602,148595,148601,148614,5386,1818,148593,148594,148613,27816,148596,148597,148600,148598,148609,148607,148616,148615,148612,148605,148610,148606,148611,148608,88908,148599],"class_list":{"0":"post-289405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-chicago-marathon","10":"tag-chris-chavez","11":"tag-citius-mag","12":"tag-citius-mag-interview","13":"tag-citius-mag-podcast","14":"tag-conner-mantz","15":"tag-dakotah-popehn","16":"tag-flotrack","17":"tag-il","18":"tag-illinois","19":"tag-jacob-kiplimo","20":"tag-john-korir","21":"tag-letsrun","22":"tag-marathon","23":"tag-marathon-american-record","24":"tag-marathon-world-record","25":"tag-natosha-rogers","26":"tag-professional-marathon","27":"tag-professional-running","28":"tag-road-running","29":"tag-runners-world","30":"tag-runnerspace","31":"tag-running-news","32":"tag-track-and-field-interview","33":"tag-track-and-field-news","34":"tag-track-and-field-podcast","35":"tag-track-and-field-updates","36":"tag-usatf","37":"tag-world-athletics","38":"tag-world-marathon-major"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}