Welcome Back, Galen Rupp

The last time the world saw Galen Rupp race a marathon was when he finished 16th at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in February 2024. He turned 39 years old this past May and doesn’t appear anywhere close to calling it a career. He’s returning to Chicago, which is a course that probably fares him better than New York (which he DNF’ed in 2022). His record in his home state is very solid.

• 2017 – Wins in 2:09:20
• 2018 – 5th place in 2:06:21
• 2021 – 2nd place in 2:06:35
• 2023 – 8th place in 2:08:48

He just recently returned to racing and took 5th at Wharf to Wharf in 27:59 for the six-mile course.

The Next Ed Eyestone Marathon Star?

Casey Clinger, who wrapped up his time at BYU and signed a professional contract with Brooks, has stayed in Provo to continue working with coach Ed Eyestone as he shifts his focus to the roads. It’s a plan that’s worked out great for Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, who have been the two best American marathoners in the past three years. Could Clinger be setting up a Big Three that could contend for a sweep at the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials? It may be too early to make that call but he’ll get his first crack at the marathon in the same place where Mantz debuted and ran 2:08:16. The record for fastest debut by an American marathoner still belongs to Leonard Korir from his 2:07:56 set at the 2019 Amsterdam Marathon.

Women’s Elite Field

• 🇪🇹 Megertu Alemu (2:16:34)
• 🇪🇹 Hawi Feysa (2:17:00)
• 🇰🇪 Irine Cheptai (2:17:51)
• 🇪🇹 Bedatu Hirpa (2:18:27)
• 🇪🇹 Haven Hailu Desse (2:19:17)
• 🇰🇪 Mary Ngugi-Cooper (2:20:22)
• 🇬🇧 Calli Hauger-Thackery (2:21:24)
• 🇺🇸 Lindsay Flanagan (2:23:31)
• 🇺🇸 Natosha Rogers (2:23:51)
• 🇦🇷 Florencia Borelli (2:24:18)
• 🇺🇸 Gabi Rooker (2:24:29)
• 🇺🇸 Dakotah Popehn (2:24:40)
• 🇫🇷 Melody Julien (2:25:01)
• 🇬🇧 Philippa Bowden (2:25:47)
• 🇺🇸 Aubrey Frentheway (2:27:14)
• 🇺🇸 Maggie Montoya (2:27:50)
• 🇰🇪 Loice Chemnung (Debut)
• 🇪🇹 Ejgayehu Taye (Debut)
• 🇺🇸 Emily Venters (Debut)

No Ruth Chepngetich, No Problem

The Athletics Integrity Unit’s investigation into Ruth Chepngetich’s positive test for hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) continues and no sanction has been handed down yet She opted for a voluntary provisional suspension, so the clock has already started on a ban if she gets a two-year suspension. Most recently, fellow Kenyan Judy Jelagat Kemboi was suspended two years after testing positive for HCTZ in an out-of-competition test from April. Unless the AIU finds evidence that Chepngetich was doping when she ran the Chicago Marathon last year, she will retain her marathon world record and the course record of 2:09:56 will hover over this race for a long time.

While the field includes five women who have run under 2:20:00, none of them has ever won a World Marathon Major. Irine Cheptai, who was third in last year’s race, is the top returner. This will be a good opportunity for someone to have a breakout and it could be a much closer race in the front as opposed to Chepngetich blasting it.

If you’re also wondering which athletes represented by Federico Rosa are in this year’s race, Chicago Marathon organizers have not announced any women represented by him in this year’s elite field. Jacob Kiplimo is the only Rosa-represented athlete on the men’s side.

A Good American Field

U.S. Olympian Dakotah Popehn is returning to the Chicago Marathon for the first time since she ran her personal best of 2:24:40 in 2023. Even after qualifying for the Games and taking 11th (originally 12th but upgraded one spot after an athlete biological passport violation by Kenyan-born Romanian Delvine Meringor), her PB has held up this entire time. Popehn has been vocal in the lead-up to the 2024 New York City Marathon and 2025 Boston Marathon races that she knows she can go faster. She struggled a bit in Boston and finished 16th in 2:26:09.