Lilian Chebii Breaks a 25-Year-Old Twin Cities Marathon Course Record

The Kenyan ran 2:25:26 in Minnesota on Sunday and won by more than six minutes, while Victor Shitsama took the men's title in 2:12:20 on his marathon debut.

Published: Oct 5, 2026 5:52 pm

Jessy Carveth

Jessy Carveth

Jessy is our Senior News Editor, pro cyclist and former track and field athlete with a Bachelors degree in Kinesiology.

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Lilian Chebii won the Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday in 2:25:26, taking 1 minute and 25 seconds off a women’s course record that had stood since 2001. The 32-year-old Kenyan, who is based in Grand Prairie, Texas, reached the finish at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul more than six minutes ahead of the next woman and 11th across the line overall.

Two Russian women had shared the old record of 2:26:51, Zinaida Semenova from 2001 and Irina Permitina, who equaled it in 2004. Chebii arrived with a best of 2:25:14 from her win at Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth in June 2025, only the second marathon she had ever run, and she came within 12 seconds of that time on Sunday.

Lilian Chebii Breaks a 25-Year-Old Twin Cities Marathon Course Record 1

“I tried my best to run 2:25,” Chebii told KARE 11. “I didn’t know I’d break the course record, but I say thank you.”

The record was worth $15,000 on top of her $10,000 winner’s check, MPR News reported. Defending champion Jane Bareikis ran 2:32:04, quicker than the time that won her the title a year ago, and still finished 6:38 behind in second. Caroline Hill was third in 2:33:26.

Victor Shitsama, 28, won the men’s race in 2:12:20 in the first marathon of his career. Born in Eldoret, Kenya, he ran cross-country at Oklahoma State, where he was part of the team that won the 2023 NCAA title, and he is now a graduate student there. His road form this year had all come at the half-marathon: 1:02:07 in Houston in January and, a week later, a win in Austin in 1:02:38.

“The weather was nice. I was feeling good,” Shitsama told KARE 11. “My plan was actually to run faster today, but then I saw people who are in, the athletes they’re strong, so I just decided to play smart and just wait for a good time to make the move.”

Andrew Kaye, a 26-year-old American who ran for the Colorado School of Mines, finished 16 seconds back in 2:12:36, and Ethiopia’s Amanuel Tikue made it three men under 2:13 in third, with 2:12:58. Will Norris won last year’s race in 2:15:41 on a warm, wet morning, so Shitsama was 3:21 quicker than the winning time from 2025. Norris placed eighth in 2:17:27. Dominic Ondoro’s men’s course record of 2:08:51 from 2016 still stands.

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Kaye, Camren Todd (fourth in 2:13:42) and Benjamin Olson (sixth in 2:15:39) all ran under the men’s 2:16:00 standard for the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, which will be held in St. Louis on March 25, 2028. Seven American women got under the 2:37:00 women’s standard, with Anne-Marie Blaney in ninth making it by just 11 seconds.

It was about 50 F at the 8 a.m. start and 57 F by 10 a.m., according to MPR, much kinder conditions than the heat that forced organizers to cancel the 2023 race on the morning it was due to run. Sunday’s race was the last in its early-October slot, and from next year it moves to the middle of the month, with the 2027 edition planned for Oct. 17, pending permits. More than 30,000 runners signed up across the weekend, which opened on Saturday with the U.S. 10K Championships at the TC 10K. The marathon field on its own is one of the 10 biggest in the U.S.