Performance
GALLERY: The 2018 Chicago Marathon
Less than ideal conditions in the windy city
After all the action of Berlin and a new WR falling in the men's race, Chicago had its work cut out to create an entertaining spectacle.
This challenge was made even greater with several high profile American women withdrawing in the weeks leading up to the race, namely Amy Cragg and Jordan Hasay.
This left a lot of the attention to the men's race, where we would get to watch Galen Rupp go head to head with Sir Mo Farah. Rupp's Oregon Project teammate Suguru Osako was also lining up, as was Geoffrey Kirui.
As race day approached, the buzz in the streets of Chicago was all about the weather forecast; warm weather and thunderstorms were on the radar, a stark contrast to the blistering heat of 2017.
In the end, it was Sir Mo Farah who crossed the line first in a time of 2:05:11, going 70 seconds quicker than his time in London in April (2:06:21).
Japan's Suguru Osako was third in a time of 2:05:50, setting a new national record and pocketing 100 million yen in the process. Osako takes the record from Yuta Shitara, who famously set the record at the Tokyo Marathon earlier this year. Osako and Shitara are the stars of Japanese marathon running and will be ones to watch in Tokyo 2020.
On the women's side, Kenyan Brigid Kosgei took the win in 2:18:35, nearly 3 minutes ahead of second place. A lot of US fans were watching to see how triathlete turned runner Gwen Jorgensen would fare; she finished in 11th place in 2:36:23, citing a race-week fever as a contributing factor to her performance.