By David Melly
October 15, 2025
The 2025 Chicago Marathon was last weekend, and it’s safe to say that Conner Mantz knocked it out of the park. But he wasn’t the only one.
About two minutes ahead of Mantz, Jacob Kiplimo won the men’s race in 2:02:23, setting a Ugandan national record and cracking the all-time top-10 in just his second career marathon. It goes to show how high expectations are for Kiplimo—who holds the half marathon world record at 56:42—that you likely felt a pang of disappointment when, after 22 or so miles under world record pace, the 2:01 barrier slipped away from him. But that’s the weight of expectation Kiplimo has to deal with, being the only human to have ever run under 57 minutes for 13.1. And he not only ran really fast; he handed reigning champ John Korir a bag of bricks so heavy with his winning move at 30km that this year’s Boston champ, a 2:02 guy in his own right, dropped out at mile 20.
On the women’s side, relative unknown Ethiopian Hawi Feysa became the sixth woman ever to run under 2:15, taking the win in 2:14:56. She outdueled Magdalena Shauri and fended off a late charge from Megertu Alemu to win her first World Marathon Major title in her fifth career marathon start. Alemu ended up second in 2:17:18 and is developing something of an “always the bridesmaid” reputation—she’s finished in the top five in London or Chicago six times but hasn’t won a Major yet. Three Americans rounded out the top ten, with both Natosha Rogers (sixth, 2:23:28) and Dakotah Popehn (seventh, 2:24:20) setting PBs in the process.
One slight bummer: the specter of Ruth Chepngetich loomed large over Chicago this year. The women’s elite field was clearly budgeted around her return appearance fee, and her suspension in July meant that there were no big names to replace her. Chepngetich’s situation was addressed early and directly on the broadcast, when coach-slash-commentator Ed Eyestone made an impassioned case for banning not just athletes, but the coaches and agents associated with them, following a positive drug test. Of course, that made things a little awkward two hours later when Kiplimo crossed the line… as he shares an agent, Federico Rosa, with Chepngetich.
But back to the man(tz) of the hour: Conner Mantz. After a tailwind- and adrenaline-aided first 5km of 14:23, the 28-year-old settled into a large pack, began clipping away at 2:04 pace, and stayed there most of the race. He moved up from ninth place at mile 20 to fourth at the finish, and posted impressively even splits of 62:19-62:24. More importantly, his 2:04:43 finish makes him the official American record holder and the first U.S. man to break 2:05 on a record eligible course. Gone are the “is it Ryan Hall or Khalid Khannouchi?” quibbles, because now only one man holds the title of fastest American marathoner.
Mantz didn’t let the fast pace up front tempt him out of a sensible tempo, sticking with his prescribed pacer and tucking into the pack when the course flipped into the headwind. Before the race, we predicted that a sub-2:05 and a podium finish would be roughly equivalent goals, and we were pretty much right: the only thing we didn’t guess was that NAZ Elite’s Alex Masai would have himself a day, sticking with Mantz stride for stride until the final mile when he kicked his way to a top-three finish, 3+ minute PB, and an epic 2:04:37 run.
Conner Mantz has had a season to remember from start to finish: an American record in the half in January, a fourth-place 2:05 run in Boston, victories at Beach to Beacon and Bolder Boulder, a national 20k title, and finally, his pièce de résistance in the Windy City. Any one of those performances could be career-defining for a lesser runner, but Mantz strung them together in one season with impressive consistency, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the BYU alum’s early jump to the roads was absolutely the right choice (as if anyone still questioned that).
The best part is, his 2025 season isn’t even over. After skipping out on a guaranteed Team USA spot at Worlds to focus on Chicago, Mantz isn’t about to pass up the next chance to represent his country. He’d barely caught his breath at the finish line before he started talking about World Cross Country and the qualifying event for it: the U.S. Cross Country Champs in Portland, Oregon, which is in just 54 days. That’s a tight turnaround… but if we’ve learned anything from this year, it’s that when Conner sets his mind to something, he’s going to get it done sooner or later.
Which brings us to our favorite part of Conner Mantz’s American record chase—the transparency and clarity with which he aimed for this huge target. In a sport where athletes love to be cagey and vague with their race schedules, their training secrets, and their true intentions, Mantz made no secret of his plans. When he was announced for Chicago in June, the mission was obvious. Conner Mantz talksabout racing in the same way he runs: he’s aggressive, unsubtle, and unafraid. Who the heck records a 45-minute podcast before their race spelling out every detail of their training and race plan? The same guy who rarely misses a Strava entry and lets hours of workout videos make their way onto YouTube.
Like Babe Ruth pointing out to the bleachers at Wrigley Field, Mantz called his shot and delivered. That kind of old-school badassery is exactly what the sport needs—even if it does come in the form of a 5-foot-6 teetotalling marathoner, not a hard-partying slugger from the 1930s. Sure, it helps to have the talent and drive to back up all the talk, but there’s plenty of talented, driven people in track and field who don’t bother to share much with the fans at all.
So cheers to Conner Mantz: we can’t wait to hear what’s next!
David Melly
David began contributing to CITIUS in 2018, and quickly cemented himself as an integral part of the team thanks to his quick wit, hot takes, undying love for the sport and willingness to get yelled at online.
