Much of the pre-race attention has focused on Emily Sisson’s 2:18:29 American record set on this course in October 2022. D’Amato was not quick to call it an official American record attempt but a personal best would put her close to it. She will be assisted by 2016 1500m Olympic champion Matthew Centrowitz, who may target a first half around 70 minutes but a final race and pacing plan has yet to be finalized.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m in PR shape,” D’Amato says. “If I PR, that’s knocking on the door of the American record so I don’t know. I really have no idea. If it’s a good day, maybe? If it’s not a good day, probably not. I’m somewhere in between.”

Project Breaking 40

Once D’Amato crosses the finish line, her attention will turn to tracking her husband, Anthony, as he runs his first marathon in seven years with the goal of finishing within 40 minutes of his wife. In addition to bragging rights, the winner of the bet will be awarded a WWE-style belt.

“He wants to break three hours so that’s what he’s been training for,” D’Amato says. “That’s right close to me breaking 2:20 so it seems like a pretty fair line. I don’t know where the Vegas odds are on that but he’s been working hard and having fun.”

CITIUS MAG reached out to Anthony for comment and he issued the following statement:

“I’m all in on Breaking 40. It’s been said, that to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man. This Sunday we’ll see who’s fit for the challenge and the cream will rise to the top, and that person is going to be Tony 🐌. I’m so confident that I’ve decided to put the highly coveted Marathon Championship Belt on the line. Literally, here in Chicago, guarded by some of the fiercest security guards in the Windy City. The belt awaits Sunday’s Champion.”

Emma Bates Will Take A Different Approach, Believes She Is In 2:18/2:19 Fitness

Emma Bates returns to the race where she tore her plantar fascia, which later forced her to withdraw from the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. A year later, she believes she has the fitness to run under her personal best of 2:22:10 from the 2023 Boston Marathon.

Bates had a strong showing at this year’s Boston Marathon, where she finished as the top American for the second consecutive year in 2:27:14 despite the warm conditions. Her most recent race was a third place finish at the Falmouth Road Race, where she ran 36:17 for the seven-mile course. Training under coach Joe Bosshard has gone well since and their lactate testing data leads her to believe she is in 2:18 to 2:19 shape.

“I keep saying that and it hasn’t happened yet but we’ve hit Boston, which isn’t a super fast course. We hit it on a hot day,” Bates said. “Last year in Chicago, I tore my plantar. It’s really just hitting it on the right day and having the stars align. Hopefully that will be on Sunday.”

“I don’t really care if it’s a 2:18, 2:19 or 2:20,” Bates added. “As long as I’m PRing and I’m improving.”

Bates mentioned she heard D’Amato and Centrowitz may run in the 69-minute range for the first half, which wouldn’t align with her own race plan execution.

“I like to either negative split or even split as much as possible,” Bates says. “I think going out in 69, which is a huge PR in the half marathon for me (Her personal best is 69:44) doesn’t really make a lot of sense. I think I’m going to go out a little bit more conservative than that. I don’t know what that means but I definitely want to reel people in as much as possible in that second half. I like Chicago because everybody kind of goes after a time and it’s really exciting, records go down and everything like that but I like to race.”

Bates is 4–1 in her marathoning career against D’Amato.

Sara Hall’s Fitness Approaching 2020 Form

At 41 years old, Sara Hall is still finding signs that she may be able to run close to her 2020 form that put her in the 2:22 range. Her best performance in Chicago came in 2021, where she ran 2:27:21 in hot and humid conditions.

She spoke with me about the optimism in her training this summer and how she was able to find some semblance of her fitness that led to a runner-up finish at the 2020 London Marathon, where she ran 2:22:01.

Gabi Rooker May Target The 2025 World Championship Standard

Gabi Rooker finished fourth among American women at the 2023 Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:24:35. The performance led to her shifting to part-time work as a physician assistant in Minnesota to sign a professional contract with Nike ahead of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. An aggressive early pace and the heat in Orlando took its toll on her and she ended up finishing 19th overall in 2:31:25.

Last week, she was a guest on The CITIUS MAG Podcast and shared optimism about chasing a personal best. When pushed for a little more clarity on how much of a personal best, she said she would be really happy with hitting the 2:23:30 qualifying standard for the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. The qualifying window opened in November 2023 and runs through May 2025.

For World Championships, USATF tends to select its team based on a descending order time list and offers up spots to athletes. Rooker is hoping to land high enough on the list to get an offer. At the moment, only three American women have the qualifying standard – Betsy Saina (2:19:17, Tokyo 2024), Fiona O’Keeffe (2:22:10, Orlando 2024) and Emily Sisson (2:22:42, Orlando 2024).

Daniel Ebenyo Excited For His Marathon Debut But Will Not Return To The Track

Kenya’s Daniel Ebenyo is one of the most promising talents in this year’s elite men’s field and will look to become the first man to win Chicago in his debut since 2003. He boasts excellent track credentials with a 12:54 personal best for 5000m, 26:57 personal best for 10,000m, plus last year’s World Championship silver medals at 10,000m and half marathon. As for the roads, he’s shown great promise with a 59:04 half marathon personal best.

He didn’t offer too many specifics as to what type of time would satisfy him in his debut.

“I think I will be happy with any result because it’s my first time,” Ebenyo said.

One thing he seemed certain on was that he is not planning to return to the track to race.

“I’m done for the track – only for workouts now,” Ebenyo says. “I need to focus on the marathon side now.”

When asked for his thoughts on how he would have fared in the Olympic final, Ebenyo believes he would’ve been able to medal and raced alongside the likes of Joshua Cheptegei, Berihu Aregawi and Grant Fisher.

“I could have got a medal because I was in the top shape of my life during that time and I knew I was going for something special,” he said.

It will forever be a game of ‘What if Ebenyo had run in Paris?’ Maybe Kenya would not have missed the 10,000m podium for the second consecutive Games.

Zach Panning Wants To Go Under 2:08

Panning says that he will be hoping to run under 2:08 by possibly targeting a 63:30 to 64:00 first half split. That would be possibly within CJ Alberton’s plan as well. The battle for top American should feature those two as well as Brian Shrader (2:09:46), Reed Fischer (2:10:34 PB) and Nathan Martin (2:10:45).