Chicago Marathon: Ethiopian Hawi Feysa retains her title in 2:13:33, all-African podium
Ethiopian Hawi Feysa retained her Chicago Marathon title on Sunday, October 11, 2026, finishing in 2:13:33, ahead of Kenyans Sharon Lokedi (2:14:07) and Brigid Kosgei (2:14:55). The three steps of the podium at one of the world's biggest road races thus went to athletes from the Horn of Africa and East Africa.
The race was decided by a razor-thin margin. Feysa took the lead from the very first kilometers, passing the 10-kilometer mark in 31:04, reports Run247. Lokedi caught up with her in the second half: one second separated the two women at the 35-kilometer mark, and they were exactly tied at the 40-kilometer mark, in 2:06:43. It was in the final mile that the Ethiopian unleashed her acceleration, covering the last 2.195 kilometers in 6:50 to win by 34 seconds.
A champion who keeps improving
Feysa is not just holding onto her crown: she has reclaimed it faster. Her 2026 time represents an improvement of 1:24 over her winning time from 2025 in Chicago, according to Run247. Within a 24-hour window, the hierarchy of global women's marathoning was once again written between Addis Ababa and Nairobi, as has been the case for over a decade.
Lokedi and Kosgei, Kenyan depth
Behind her, Sharon Lokedi paid the price for her comeback effort, and Brigid Kosgei finished the race 1:22 behind the winner, according to detailed results published by LetsRun. Three women under 2:15 in the same race: African depth at this distance remains unrivaled, and it is built in the high-altitude camps of the Rift Valley and the Ethiopian highlands, not in the laboratories of major Northern federations.
What this Chicago Sunday tells us
In the men's race, Kenyan Amos Kipruto had won earlier in the day in 2:01:09, 34 seconds off the record of his late compatriot Kelvin Kiptum, according to LetsRun. The day's two victories, at an event that attracts the world's best, confirm what the world rankings repeat every season: on the road, the marathon runs on African time.
The rest of the autumn will be written at the major upcoming events, where Feysa will now arrive with two consecutive Chicago titles to her name.
This article was written in French with the help of artificial intelligence from the sources cited below, then translated from French automatically. Read the original.
