Berlin, Oct. 8, (dpa/GNA) – Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands won the women’s race at the Chicago Marathon with the second best time in history, smashing her personal best by almost five minutes in the process.
Hassan clocked 2 hours 13 minutes 44 seconds over the 42.195-kilometres distance, which she was only running for the second time. Her previous best was 2:18:33 from her surprise London win in her marathon debut in April.
Only Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa has run faster in last month’s stunning world record of 2:11:53 in Berlin.
Hassan and two-time reigning Chicago champion Ruth Chepngetich were on world record pace in the early stages before Hassan pulled away at around 30km to win by 1:53 minutes over her Kenyan rival. Ethiopia’s Megertu Alemu was third, 3:25 minutes off the pace.
Hassan is a two-time world and Olympic track champion who won 5,000m silver and 1,500m bronze in August at the world championships in Budapest, where she also missed a possible 10,000m gold by falling just before the finish line.
GNA