2026 Chicago Marathon Elite Field: Sutume Kebede

The last time Sutume Kebede raced the Chicago Marathon, she was the one woman who went with Ruth Chepngetich when the Kenyan set off at world record pace. Kebede was just two seconds behind at 10K in 2024 and still finished second in 2:17:32, the best Chicago result of a career that also includes back-to-back wins in Tokyo and a world best over 25K.

The 31-year-old Ethiopian comes back on Sunday for her third Chicago start with a marathon best of 2:15:55. Only Brigid Kosgei and defending champion Hawi Feysa have run faster among the women in this year’s elite field, and both of them finished ahead of her in Tokyo in March.

Sutume Kebede at a Glance

Profile

• Born: Dec. 11, 1994 (age 31)
• Country: Ethiopia
• Sponsor: On, since October 2024

Personal Bests

• Marathon: 2:15:55 (Tokyo, March 3, 2024)
• 25K: 1:18:47 (Kolkata, Dec. 17, 2023)
• Half-marathon: 1:04:37 (Houston, Jan. 14, 2024)
• 10K: 31:11 (2015)
• 10,000m: 31:09.56 (2021)

Marathon Wins and Podiums

• Tokyo Marathon 2025: first, 2:16:31
• Tokyo Marathon 2024: first, 2:15:55
• Chicago Marathon 2024: second, 2:17:32
• Seoul Marathon 2022: second, 2:17:57
• Tokyo Marathon 2020: third, 2:20:30
• Beijing Marathon 2019: first, 2:23:31

Records

• 25K world best for a stand-alone race: 1:18:47 (Kolkata, 2023). Still stands, and it is still the Kolkata course record. Faster 25K times have been run as splits inside marathons.
• Houston Half Marathon course record: 1:04:37 (2024). Still stands. It was also the fastest women’s half-marathon ever run in North America when she set it.
• Tokyo Marathon course record and Japanese all-comers record: 2:15:55 (2024). Beaten by Brigid Kosgei, who ran 2:14:29 in Tokyo on March 1, 2026.
• First woman to win the Tokyo Marathon in consecutive years: 2024 and 2025.

From Berlin’s 25K to Tokyo

In 2015, at 20, Kebede ran 1:21:55 for 25K in Berlin, part of a year of road racing in Germany, Switzerland and Italy that also brought a 31:11 10K. She came back to that distance in Kolkata eight years later and ran 1:18:47, more than three minutes faster, beating Yalemzerf Yehualaw, then the world 10K record holder, by 39 seconds and taking down the world best for a stand-alone 25K that Mary Keitany had held since 2010. She won in Kolkata again in 2024, and last December she was second there behind Degitu Azimeraw, who is also entered in Chicago.

Kebede’s first marathon win came in Beijing in 2019, in 2:23:31. She was third in Tokyo the following March in 2:20:30 and ran 2:17:57 for second in Seoul in 2022. Her first Chicago, in 2023, ended in 15th place in 2:26:49.

In January 2024 she won the Houston Half Marathon in 1:04:37, a minute and a half clear of Hellen Obiri, which was the fastest women’s half-marathon ever run in North America and put her joint eighth on the world all-time list. Seven weeks later she won Tokyo in 2:15:55, dropping Amane Beriso and catching Rosemary Wanjiru in the closing kilometers to win by 19 seconds, with Sifan Hassan fourth. It took nearly two minutes off her personal best and moved her to eighth on the all-time list at the time.

She went back to Tokyo in 2025 and ran the race from the front. Kebede went through halfway in 1:06:20, on pace for about 2:12, and although she slowed over the second half nobody caught her. Her 2:16:31 beat Winfridah Moraa Moseti by 25 seconds, with Feysa third, and made her the first woman to win the race two years running.

“To win again in Tokyo, it’s a dream come true,” she said afterward, in a statement from On. “I felt strong, focused, and determined.”

Her Chicago Record

Kebede arrived in Chicago in 2024 talking about Kelvin Kiptum, who had set the men’s world record of 2:00:35 on the same course a year earlier and died in a road accident that February. The two had trained in the same group. “After seeing what my teammate Kelvin Kiptum did last year, I want to come to Chicago to do something great,” she said before the race.

Kebede then ran with Chepngetich through 5K, reached 10K in 30:16, two seconds behind, and went through halfway in 1:04:30. That split was seven seconds faster than her own half-marathon best from Houston nine months earlier. Chepngetich pulled away in the second half and ran 2:09:56, which still stands as the world record while she serves a doping ban. Kebede covered the second half in 1:13:02 and kept second place by 20 seconds over Irine Cheptai. It was her first race for On, which announced her signing after the race.

At the World Championships marathon in Tokyo last September, which Peres Jepchirchir won in 2:24:43, Kebede finished 27th in 2:35:30. She was far closer to her best back at the Tokyo Marathon in March, where she and Kosgei left the rest of the field around 30K, which they passed in 1:35:53 on pace for under 2:15. Kosgei went clear at 35K and went on to win in a course record of 2:14:29. Bertukan Welde passed Kebede late to take second in 2:16:36, and Feysa caught her on the line for third, with both given 2:17:39.

What to Expect on Sunday

Kebede has raced four of the leading women in Sunday’s field within the last year. She beat Feysa in Tokyo in 2025, then lost to her on the line in March. She finished ahead of Megertu Alemu, fifth in Tokyo in 2:18:50, and behind Azimeraw in Kolkata. Kosgei, who set the then world record of 2:14:04 here in 2019, beat her by more than three minutes in March.

In Chicago in 2024 and in Tokyo in each of the last two years, Kebede went with the early pace, so if Kosgei or Feysa, who won here last year, push it from the start, she is likely to be with them. In March she was still second at 35K, and how she handles the last 7K against this field may decide where she finishes.

The women start alongside the professional men at 7:30 a.m. CT on Sunday, Oct. 11, with $100,000 for the winner and a $50,000 bonus for breaking Chepngetich’s 2:09:56. A top-three finish would be Kebede’s fifth podium at a World Marathon Major, and her second in Chicago.