Ruth Chepng’etich put herself in the global spotlight after she took two minutes off the world record when she won the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, October 13, 2024.
Going into the marathon, the Kenyan team was already under the spotlight given that the late Kelvin Kiptum broke the world men’s record in Chicago last year.
With Kiptum’s achievements, it was a foregone conclusion that the Kenyans were going to face a bar that had been set so high performance-wise, and even with that, Chepng’etich did go ahead to break the record.
This achievement was scrutinized so keenly that even some analysts suggested she could have cheated.
How did she conquer Chicago?
It was a good day in Chepng’etich’s career as she not only obliterated Tigist Assefa’s world record of 2:11:53, which was set in Berlin in 2023, but she also notched up her third Chicago Marathon victory and chopped more than four minutes off her previous best of 2:14:18.
Chepng’etich was tactical all through the race, as she covered the first 5km in 15:00 and reached 10km in an astonishing 30:14. She continued and got to the halfway mark in an incredible 1:04:16, which was the fifth-fastest clocking in history for the half marathon distance. This put her on course for a sub-2:09 finish.
The Kenyan star faced stiff competition from Ethiopia’s Asefa Kebede, who eventually finished in second place. By the time Chepng’etich and her rival hit the 30km mark at 1:31:49, the eventual winner had a lead of almost two minutes over Kebede.
The Kenyan star covered the next 10km in 31:22, which was her slowest of the race so far, according to World Athletics. This was still remarkably quick and enough to increase her leading margin to more than six minutes.
With about two kilometres to go, Chepngetich was still well inside the world record pace. She then ran the final stages and finished the race in 2:09:57, becoming the first woman to break 2:10.
“I feel so great. I’m very proud of myself. This is my dream. I fought a lot, thinking about the world record. The world record has come back to Kenya, and I dedicate this world record to Kelvin Kiptum,” she said, as per World Athletics.
After smashing the record in New York, criticism started to flow in with Stephen Kerr, a North Irish athletics analyst, pointing out areas that he thinks make Chepng’etich’s record look suspicious.
Kerr analysed Chepng’etich’s performance almost step-by-step and juxtaposed her Chicago performance with her past records. This left the readers of his analysis almost doubting Chepngetich’s ability to break and establish a new record in the Chicago course.
Kerr’s criticism-cum-analysis
Ruth passed through her first 5k in exactly 15 minutes and 10k in 30.14. Let’s take a look at how fast she has run for 5km, 10km and 10km on the track before.
So she ran a 5k and 10k personal best while racing a marathon… Well, maybe she never really concentrated on shorter distances, and her half-marathon times are much faster.
So let’s take a look at her half-marathon progression over the last seven years: 2018-1.07 and 2024-1.05.58. Not one thing suspicious about that… actually pretty normal.
Normal until she went through halfway in 1.04.16, followed up by another in 1.05.40. Both splits quicker than her half-marathon personal best.
She literally ran a personal best for every distance in one race. So how much time did she knock off her marathon best? Her best before was in Chicago 2022: 2.14.18, four minutes and 22 seconds stripped off. Four minutes at that speed is superhuman.
Take a look at her marathon progression. I wonder what she has changed in training that has caused this massive improvement in performance.
A full two minutes faster than the last world record. They couldn’t make it any more obvious that this result isn’t normal. They are literally making a mockery of the sport and the athletes that are clean.
What does this have to do with the sport being dead? How can any young athlete growing up believe they can achieve their dream when results like this are celebrated?
Chepng’etich defended
This criticism forced Athletics Kenya to defend Chepng’etich. AK said, in their defence, that Chepng’etich’s ascent as a star in Kenya’s athletic scene has been nothing short of extraordinary.
It added that from her World Championships win in 2019 to her performance on the global stage over five years have been consistent.
“In any case, many world records were broken this year, and to single her out is utterly unfair. It is therefore disheartening to witness some sections of the media casting unwarranted doubt on her achievements. Such aspersions, made without due process, undermine not only her efforts but the integrity of the sport.
“It is important to note that Ruth, like all athletes in major competitions, underwent multiple anti-doping tests, both pre-race and post-race. These are standard procedures in events of this magnitude, and only after all results are verified will her record be officially ratified,” the AK statement read.
Despite the criticism, Chepng’etich can only hope to achieve even more top medals and break more records in order to at least silence critics who doubted her performance in Chicago.
