Amos Kipruto has finished on the Chicago Marathon podium both times he has raced it, third in 2024 and second last year, and he lines up again on Sunday with a personal best of 2:01:39 from the London Marathon in April. Only the defending champion, Jacob Kiplimo, comes into the race with a faster time.
Amos Kipruto at a Glance
Country: Kenya. Born: Sept. 16, 1992 (age 34).
Personal Bests
- Marathon: 2:01:39 (London, April 26, 2026)
- Half-marathon: 1:00:24 (Gothenburg, May 20, 2017)
- 10K: 28:37 (Bolzano, Dec. 31, 2019)
Records and Rankings
- Hamburg Marathon course record: 2:03:46 (April 27, 2025), still standing. Othmane El Goumri won the 2026 race in 2:04:24.
- All-time list: sixth-fastest man in marathon history
- World Athletics ranking: No. 6 in the men’s marathon
Major Marathon Podiums
- 3rd, Tokyo 2018 (2:06:33)
- 2nd, Berlin 2018 (2:06:23)
- 2nd, Tokyo 2022 (2:03:13)
- 1st, London 2022 (2:04:39)
- 3rd, Chicago 2024 (2:04:50)
- 2nd, Chicago 2025 (2:03:54)
Other Marathon Wins
- Rome 2016 (2:08:12)
- Seoul 2017 (2:05:54)
- Hamburg 2025 (2:03:46)
Championships
- Bronze, World Championships marathon, Doha 2019 (2:10:51)
Early Wins and a World Championships Medal
Kipruto’s first big marathon win came in Rome in April 2016, where a 14:50 split from 35K to 40K took him clear of the leaders and he finished in 2:08:12. He was training in Kapsabet, in Kenya’s Nandi County, under the Italian coach Claudio Berardelli, and he was still part of Berardelli’s 2Running Club there eight years later.
A year after Rome he won Seoul in 2:05:54, and in 2018 he moved up to the majors with a third place in Tokyo in February and a second place in Berlin that September. The Berlin result came on the day Eliud Kipchoge ran 2:01:39 to break the world record, a time that would turn up again in Kipruto’s own career eight years later.
His one global championship medal followed in 2019. The marathon at the World Championships in Doha started just before midnight, and Kipruto was dropped from the front group after 30K but held on for bronze in 2:10:51, only 11 seconds behind the winner, Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia.
He ran 2:03:30 for fourth in Valencia in December 2020, but that was also the year of a tendon tear, and he did not finish the Olympic marathon in Sapporo the following summer. “In 2020, I got a tendon tear injury and I went through some low moments, but my coach Claudio and the management supported me, and gave me hope that I will be back,” he said in 2024.
The 2022 London Title
In March 2022 he ran 2:03:13 for second behind Kipchoge in Tokyo, a personal best that would last four years, and that October he won London at his first attempt. He broke the race open with a 4:21 25th mile and finished in 2:04:39, 33 seconds ahead of Ethiopia’s Leul Gebresilase, with Bashir Abdi of Belgium, who is also in Sunday’s field, in third.
“It means a lot to me. It gives me a lot of morale now,” Kipruto said after the race.
Injury, Then Three Years Near the Front
After seventh place in Berlin in September 2023, an injury kept Kipruto out of marathons for more than a year, including the 2024 London Marathon he had planned to run. He chose Chicago for his return that October. “I want to show the world that I am still the kind of athlete who is capable of winning a major,” he said beforehand, and he ran 2:04:50 for third behind John Korir.
In April 2025 he won the Hamburg Marathon in 2:03:46, a course record, and six months later he was second in Chicago in 2:03:54 with Kiplimo out on his own over the final five miles to win in 2:02:23. Alex Masai was third that day, and Conner Mantz set the American record in fourth.
In London this April, Kipruto was one of six men who went through halfway together in 1:00:29, a group that also held his training partner Sabastian Sawe, Kiplimo, Yomif Kejelcha, Tamirat Tola and Deresa Geleta. Sawe went on to run 1:59:30, the first sub-two-hour marathon in a record-eligible race, and Kipruto came in fourth in 2:01:39, 94 seconds quicker than his old best and exactly the time Kipchoge ran for the world record in Berlin in 2018. Only five men in history have run faster.
He also ran a 5,000m on the track in May, placing fourth in 14:02.12 at the championships of Kenya’s National Police Service.
What to Expect in Chicago
Jacob Kiplimo has finished one place ahead of Kipruto in each of their last two marathons, and the Ugandan’s 2:00:28 from London is the fastest time anyone in the field has run. Kiplimo also broke the half-marathon world record in Lisbon in March.
Behind those two, the men’s field is deep: Milkesa Mengesha has run 2:03:17, Tadese Takele 2:03:23, Abdi 2:03:36 and Daniel Mateiko 2:03:44. Kipruto’s London run puts him well ahead of the shape he was in when he ran 2:03:54 here a year ago.
Kiplimo’s 2:02:23 last year is the second-fastest time ever run in Chicago, so a repeat of Kipruto’s London time would beat it, leaving only Kelvin Kiptum’s course record of 2:00:35 from 2023 quicker. The winner takes home $100,000, with another $50,000 for a course record, and our Chicago Marathon guide has the start times and how to watch.
Kipruto turned 34 in September, and a win on Sunday would be his first major title since London in 2022 and his first in Chicago at the third attempt.
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