Galen Rupp became the first American man in 15 years to win the Chicago Marathon while Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba, won the women’s race on Sunday.
Olympic bronze medallist Rupp opened the men’s race in the last 10 km to finish in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 20 seconds while defending champion Abel Kirui of Kenya was second in 2:09:48 with compatriot Bernard Kipyego third in 2:10:23.
Dibaba, a world record holder on the track, won her first marathon in 2:18.31 while Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei was a distant second in 2:20:22 with American Jordan Hasay third in 2:20:57.
31 year old Rupp, was the first American man to win the Chicago Marathon since Morocco-born Khalid Khannouchi in 2002. Kenyans had won the Chicago men’s title in 13 of the past 14 years.
Rupp was second in April’s Boston Marathon and third in last year’s Rio Olympics.
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Former world and Olympic 5,000 and 10,000m champion, Dibaba was second at the London Marathon in April in 2:17:56, becoming the third-fastest woman at the distance in only her second try.
Dibaba and Rupp each took a $100,000 prize money at the 40th anniversary edition of the classic, which saw more than 40,000 runners compete on the streets of the US Midwestern metropolis.
