Sunday, October 11, 2026 · The 48th running
The Chicago Marathon
Chicago lost the men’s world record in April, when Kelvin Kiptum’s 2:00:35 fell in London. The course didn’t get any slower. The defending champion has since run faster than Chicago’s course record, the American record set here last October is being hunted, and the field is the biggest the race has ever had. This is our guide to October 11, and to getting into 2027.
The 2026 race
What to watch on Sunday
Three storylines. One of them is a record chase you can actually believe in.
The course record is a real target
Jacob Kiplimo won here last October in 2:02:23, the second-fastest time Chicago has seen. Six months later he ran 2:00:28 in London, finishing third in the race where Sabastian Sawe broke two hours. That is seven seconds quicker than the course record Kiptum set here in 2023, and nobody has ever arrived in Chicago with a faster personal best.
He won’t be alone. Amos Kipruto, second here last year, is back, and the field announced in July had six men under 2:04. Alex Masai, third here last year, has since withdrawn; Bashir Abdi, the European record holder at 2:03:36 and an Olympic medalist in Tokyo and Paris, has been added. On a cool morning with pacing that holds, the number to watch is 2:00:35, not the world record.
ReadThe full 2026 elite field Abdi in, Masai out How Kiplimo won in 2025
The American record, chased in the open
Conner Mantz broke the American record on this course last October, running 2:04:43 to take down Khalid Khannouchi’s 2:05:38, which had stood since 2002. Mantz is running New York this year. His training partner Clayton Young has said publicly that he’s coming for it — though his best on a record-eligible course is still the 2:08:00 he ran here in 2023. His 2:05:41 at Boston in April doesn’t count.
On paper Charles Hicks is the likelier man. His 2:04:35 at Boston is eight seconds under Mantz, on a course that can’t produce records, and he chose Chicago because, in his words, “it’s a place where people run fast.” Then there’s Vinny Mauri, who won Glass City in April in 2:05:54 — the fastest marathon debut by an American — while working at a running store in Ohio. He signed with ASICS last week. This is his first major.
ReadYoung’s record attempt Mauri signs with ASICS Mauri, from the shop floor to Chicago Mantz’s record run
The women’s race is the deeper one
Hawi Feysa won last year by more than two minutes, in 2:14:56, and is back to defend. She’ll have company she didn’t have then. Brigid Kosgei set a world record on this course in 2019 — her 2:14:04 is still her best — and won Tokyo this spring. Sharon Lokedi, twice a Boston champion and the 2022 New York winner, races a flat major for the first time. Megertu Alemu, second here last year, and Sutume Kebede make a front group where five women could plausibly win.
Susanna Sullivan and Natosha Rogers lead the Americans, with Dakotah Popehn back after finishing seventh in 2025. Emma Grace Hurley makes her marathon debut after setting the American 8K record on Chicago’s streets in the spring, and Des Linden is using the race as a long day out on the way to a 100-mile debut.
Race week
The schedule, and two things the official guide won’t tell you
All times Central.
- Applications for the 2027 race open, three days before this year’s gun. Details below.
- The Abbott Health & Fitness Expo opens at McCormick Place, North Building, Level 3, Hall B1.
- Expo, day two.
- The Abbott Chicago 5K, from Ida B. Wells Drive to Wacker and Adams.
- Last day of the expo.
- Wheelchair start, Grant Park.
- Wave starts, first to last. The course closes 6 hours 30 minutes after the start.
There are 20 aid stations, one to two miles apart, with water and Gatorade Endurance in cups. New this year, Chicago has filtered refill points for your own flask or bottle just before aid stations 4, 7, 12 and 16 — miles 5.7, 10.1, 15.7 and 20.3. It’s the only one of the seven majors doing that for its whole field. How the refill stations work.
Your watch will lie to you downtown
The opening miles run between tall buildings and, briefly, underground, and GPS struggles with both. Plenty of runners watch their pace readout wander and see their watch click over well before the mile markers. Turn auto-lap off and press lap at each marker, or run off a pace band.
Don’t trust October
Chicago’s reputation is cool, and usually it’s deserved. In 2007 the temperature climbed into the upper 80s, organizers stopped the race about three and a half hours in, and more than 300 runners were taken to hospital. Plan around Friday’s forecast, not the historical average.
The course
Flat, looped, and one hill at the very end
It’s a loop, which makes it easy to watch and hard to get lost on. You start and finish in Grant Park. The first stretch goes north through the Loop and up into Lincoln Park, turns back south and heads west, then swings down through Pilsen and Chinatown before the long run north on Michigan Avenue. Organizers count 29 neighborhoods along the way, and the crowds are deepest in the canyon of the first few miles.
It is genuinely flat — flat enough that the only rise anyone remembers comes in the last half-mile. You turn right off Michigan onto Roosevelt Road for a climb of less than a quarter-mile that runners call Mount Roosevelt. On fresh legs you wouldn’t notice it. At mile 26 it is the only hill in Illinois. Then a left onto Columbus Drive, and the finish is in sight.
One corrective to the “fastest course” reputation: a 2026 study of more than 400,000 marathoners ranked Chicago 24th of 46 courses for typical runners. The speed at the front of the race is real. For everyone else it’s the weather doing the work — the same study found the 50°F morning in 2014 was worth more than six minutes to a three-hour marathoner.
The record book
Seven world records, and two footnotes
Seven marathon world records have been set in Chicago: three men’s and four women’s.
| Year | Athlete | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Steve Jones (GBR) | 2:08:05 | Men |
| 1999 | Khalid Khannouchi (MAR) | 2:05:42 | Men |
| 2001 | Catherine Ndereba (KEN) | 2:18:47 | Women |
| 2002 | Paula Radcliffe (GBR) | 2:17:18 | Women |
| 2019 | Brigid Kosgei (KEN) | 2:14:04 | Women |
| 2023 | Kelvin Kiptum (KEN) | 2:00:35 | Men · course record |
| 2024 | Ruth Chepngetich (KEN) | 2:09:56 | Women · current world record, course record |
Kiptum’s 2:00:35 was the men’s world record until April 26, when Sabastian Sawe ran 1:59:30 in London — ratified in July. It is still the Chicago course record. Kiptum died in a road accident in Kenya in February 2024, four months after running it.
Chepngetich’s 2:09:56 is still the women’s world record. She is also serving a three-year ban after testing positive for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide in March 2025. Because that sample was taken five months after her Chicago run, the Athletics Integrity Unit let results from before it stand.
The American record lives here too: Conner Mantz’s 2:04:43, from 2025.
More: Kiptum’s 2023 run · Chepngetich’s 2024 run · Every current marathon world record
Entry
Getting into 2027
Applications open Thursday, October 8, and close October 29. Most places go through the drawing, and the odds keep getting longer: more than 200,000 people applied for 2026, for a field of 55,000.
Six ways to skip the drawing
- Charity. Raise at least $2,200. Roughly a third of the field gets in this way.
- Time qualifier. Run the standard for your age on a certified course, or the High Performance mark.
- Legacy. Five or more Chicago finishes in the past ten years.
- The 2026 Distance Series. Finish the Shamrock Shuffle, the Chicago 13.1 and this year’s marathon.
- A tour operator. Through one of the race’s official travel partners.
- A 2026 cancellation. You canceled your entry for this year’s race.
Already thinking about 2028? It’s the 50th running, on October 8, 2028. Finish all three races in the 2027 Distance Series — the Shamrock Shuffle 8K on March 21, the Chicago 13.1 on June 6 and the marathon on October 10 — and your 2028 entry is guaranteed. Right now it’s the only route to that start line you can lock down.
Time-qualifier standards
| Age | Men | Women & non-binary |
|---|---|---|
| 16–34 | 2:55:00 | 3:25:00 |
| 35–39 | 3:00:00 | 3:30:00 |
| 40–44 | 3:05:00 | 3:35:00 |
| 45–49 | 3:15:00 | 3:45:00 |
| 50–54 | 3:20:00 | 3:50:00 |
| 55–59 | 3:30:00 | 4:00:00 |
| 60–64 | 3:45:00 | 4:15:00 |
| 65–69 | 4:00:00 | 4:30:00 |
| 70–74 | 4:15:00 | 4:45:00 |
| 75–79 | 4:30:00 | 5:00:00 |
| 80+ | 4:50:00 | 5:20:00 |
The most recently published standards. Confirm them against the 2027 application before you build a training block around one. Our qualifying guide.
From our newsroom
Our Chicago Marathon coverage
The 2026 race
- Vinny Mauri Signs With ASICS Before the Chicago Marathon
- Chicago Marathon Adds Bashir Abdi as Alex Masai Withdraws
- Clayton Young Will Chase the American Record His Training Partner Set in Chicago
- Chicago Marathon Adopts Water Refill Stations For Runners
- Chicago Marathon Sets a Field Record With More Than 55,000 Runners
- Vinny Mauri, One Marathon Into His Career, Joins a Stacked Chicago Field
- Chicago Just Loaded Up One Of The Deepest Marathon Fields It’s Ever Had
2025, in review
- Jacob Kiplimo Dominates Chicago Marathon — And Flirts With World Record Pace
- Hawi Feysa Gives A Masterclass In Marathoning To Claim The Chicago Crown
- Conner Mantz Destroys American Marathon Record at the 2025 Chicago
- Conner Mantz Gives His Bottle to Rival in Chicago Marathon—and Then Runs an American Record
- Here’s How Much The Top Runners Got Paid In The 2025 Chicago Marathon
- The Shoes That Won The 2025 Chicago Marathon
Records and speed
- It’s Official: Sawe’s Sub-Two And Assefa’s Record Are Now In The Books
- Fastest Marathon Time: World Records + Top Runners
- The Fastest Marathon In The World Isn’t The One You’d Guess
- WATCH: Ruth Chepngetich Sets World Record At Chicago Marathon And Becomes The First Woman To Break 2:10
- Kelvin Kiptum Shatters Marathon World Record at the Chicago Marathon, Only his Third Ever
Getting in
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions
When is the 2026 Chicago Marathon?
Sunday, October 11, 2026. The wheelchair race starts at 7:20 a.m. Central, the first wave of runners at 7:30 and the last at 8:35.
How many people run the Chicago Marathon?
More than 55,000 are registered for 2026, the largest field in the race’s history. The finisher record is 52,150, from 2024.
How do I get into the 2027 Chicago Marathon?
Apply between October 8 and October 29, 2026; drawing results go out on December 8. You can skip the drawing with a charity place, a qualifying time, legacy status, the Distance Series, a tour operator or a canceled 2026 entry.
What are the Chicago Marathon qualifying times?
The most recently published standards start at 2:55 for men and 3:25 for women and non-binary runners aged 16–34, and ease with age. The full table is above — confirm it against the 2027 application.
Is Chicago the fastest marathon course?
At the front of the race it’s among the fastest in the world: the men’s world record was set here in 2023 and the current women’s world record in 2024. For typical runners, a 2026 study ranked it 24th of 46 courses. Cool weather does more for your time than the course does.
Does the Chicago Marathon have any hills?
One, and it’s short: the rise on Roosevelt Road with less than half a mile to go, which runners call Mount Roosevelt.
Where’s the best place to watch?
Because the course is a loop, you can see runners more than once. Lincoln Park in the early miles, Pilsen around mile 19 and Michigan Avenue in the final stretch are all popular. Take the CTA — driving near the course on race morning isn’t worth it.
