Sifan Hassan won the 2023 Chicago Marathon with a course record and women’s all-time second-best

Dutch long-distance runner Sifan Hassan won the 2023 Chicago Marathon, moving to world’s number two on the women’s all-time list with a time of 2:13:44 hours.

The Dutch athlete dealt with defending champion Ruth Chepngetich (Kenya) and Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia), who also competed at the Chicago Marathon.

Ruth Chepngetich had opened up a six-second gap by half way, clocking 1:05:42 hours against Sifan Hassan’s 1:05:48 hours, but the Dutch athlete would have surely felt no concern. She soon rejoined Ruth Chepngetich at the front and they ran side by side through 25km in 1:18:06 hours. At the end, Sifan Hassan won the competition with a personal best and also the course record of 2:14:04 hours, while Ruth Chepngetich was second finishing in 2:15:37 hours.

“The first group took off at a crazy pace, but I wanted to join that group. The last five kilometres, I suffered. Wow ­– I won again in my second marathon in a fantastic time. I couldn’t be happier”, said Sifan Hassan after the race.

The bronze went to Megertu Alemu )Ethiopia) with 2:17:09 hours, while Joyciline Jepkosgei (kenya) with 2:17:23 hours finished fourth. Tadu Teshome (Ethiopia), Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia), Emily Sisson (USA), Molly Seidel (USA), Rose Harvey (Great Britain), and Sara Vaughn (USA) completed the Top 10.

Sifan Hassan moved to world’s number two on the women’s all-time list and the only woman to have ever gone faster is Tigist Assefa (Ethiopia), who set a world record of 2:11:53 hours to win the BMW Berlin Marathon last month.