Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda and Hawi Feysa Gejia of Ethiopia are the 2025 Chicago Marathon champions in a race that also featured a new American record on the men’s side.
Kiplimo won the men’s competition with a time of two hours, two minutes and 23 seconds, which was enough to outpace fellow podium-finishers Amos Kipruto and Alex Masai.
Conner Mantz of the United States finished in fourth place and set the American record with a time of two hours, four minutes and 43 seconds.
As for the women’s competition, Feysa broke free in the latter portion of the race and cruised to a win.
Here is a look at the top finishers:
It seemed like Kiplimo would challenge for a world record since he was under pace for approximately 22 hours. He ultimately fell short of the 2:00:35 world record, which was set at the 2023 Chicago Marathon by Kelvin Kiptum.
However, this year’s victor still needed a strong finish to hold off Kipruto. That it was Kiplimo’s second career marathon made it all the more impressive.
As for Mantz, he broke Khalid Khannouchi’s American record of 2:05:38 from the 2002 London Marathon by nearly a full minute. Khannouchi was part of NBC Chicago’s coverage and joked with Mantz, “What took you so long?”
On the women’s side, Feysa added to her resume that also includes the 2025 Tokyo Marathon bronze medal. She seized control around the 18th mile and defeated Megertu Alemu by nearly three minutes.
The Chicago Marathon is always highly anticipated as one of the three World Marathon Majors in the United States, and this year was certainly no different.
Ashley Tysiac of Runner’s Worldcalled the men’s competition “one of the deepest fields” of the year with reigning champion John Korir returning to face a field that included half marathon world-record holder Kiplimo and Mantz.
It has also been just two years since Kiptum set the 2:00:35 world record in Chicago, and record watch is always an area of focus in the Windy City.
As for the women’s competition, Tysiac called it a “wide-open” field since reigning champion and world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich is suspended after a positive drug test. Tysiac highlighted Ethiopians Alemu and Feysa as candidates to take home the title.
That was quite a prediction considering they finished in first and second place.
All of the runners were facing a course that travels through some of Chicago’s most famous neighborhoods, including Lincoln Park, Old Town, Greek Town, Little Town and Chinatown. Much of the race runs parallel to Lake Michigan, and runners finished at Grant Park.
And nobody finished faster than Kiplimo for the men and Feysa for the women.
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