Hellen Obiri watched the 2024 Chicago Marathon last month with mixed emotions. As her compatriot and friend Ruth Chepngetich passed the half-way mark in 64 minutes, the “impossible”, as she previously believed, was starting to unfold in front of her very eyes.
The Kenyan, 30, held it together superbly over the final 13.1 miles to break the previous world record by nearly two minutes, registering an astonishing time of two hours, nine minutes and 57 seconds. The 13th October, therefore, etched forever in the history books as the day women’s marathoning running changed, the 2:10 barrier broken and a world of possibilities now imagined.
Not least for Obiri, a runner who prides herself on hard, gruelling races, to thrive and outlast her rivals over the punishing hills in Boston and New York. Obiri’s personal best, two hours, 21 minutes and 38 seconds, obscures the calibre of athlete she is, as a two-time Olympic silver medalist, having also claimed bronze in Paris in one of the all-time great races.
“Honestly I watched that race and for the first time I thought, the world record is impossible, even when [Ethiopia’s Tigst] Assefa ran 2:11, so many said this world record is here to stay,” the On athlete tells the Independent.
“I believed them. So when Ruth went out with the fast half, 64 minutes, I thought it could happen. Ruth looked so strong, she never looks back.
“When women run sub-2:10, it shows people are training and women are working hard. It gives us all motivation to work extra hard. People can run so fast, you know.
“So now people say we are targeting 2:07? Everything is possible nowadays. It’s also to do with the technology. I was so happy for her.”
Obiri is adamant she could knock off 11 minutes from her personal best and predicts she can run 2:10 on a flat course with the added boost of male pacers. There is also a refreshing candidness surrounding the prominent role shoes now play in performance and her collaboration with Swiss brand On.
Carbon-plated shoes have redefined the sport in many ways and Obiri’s weapon of choice is the Cloudboom Strike LS. The celestial design with the upper sprayed on to remove the need for laces could be a game-changer for On and its prominent position in the sport’s shoe war.
Chicago should have been a glorious moment for women’s sport though. The men have long since dreamed of breaking the two-hour barrier in a legitimate race, following Eliud Kipchoge’s Ineos 1:59 Challenge and the late Kelvin Kiptum’s audacious world record run in the Windy City last year before tragedy struck in February.
Paula Radcliffe’s once untouchable mark stood for 16 years before Brigid Kosgei’s stunning record at Chicago in 2019. Assefa’s extraordinary run in Berlin last year elevated the trajectory of women’s marathon running yet further, though 2:09 was barely considered, let alone outright targeted until Chepngetich pulled off the unthinkable.
So scepticism from parts of the media clouded her achievement, with the Kenyan athlete asked by a journalist to address her country’s growing list of athletes banned in recent years for violating doping regulations.
Around 70 athletes have been punished for violating doping regulations in the last three years, Reuters report. Emmaculate Anyango Achol, the second fastest woman of all time on the roads over 10k, was provisionally banned last month after failing a doping test for the banned drug testosterone and blood-boosting hormone EPO, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced.
But despite this concerning trend, Obiri vehemently defended Chepngetich and backed Athletics Kenya in its bold demand for an apology from the journalist for daring to ask the question.
“People don’t need to question, some media guys questioned the performance,” Obiri maintains. “You need to congratulate the hard work she’s done. She’s been tested so much, you can’t go to Chicago without being tested You feel bad, she’s just won the race, people need to congratulate her, not write something like that, it lets down your morale.
“You need to celebrate but you’re thinking a lot of things. She’s done a lot of work. She’s been working so hard for so many years to get the record, we can say that she deserved it so much.
“For me it’s my friend, I have to send her congratulations, she said, ‘thank you,’ but she didn’t seem like she was worried about the media. It was not good, the reaction, the international media, you can’t ask that question. Many complained about it, even Ruth, she didn’t think somebody would ask that. I was happy with how she handled it.
“People from Kenya, you need to celebrate this, I was happy that Athletics Kenya responded. It’s good for them to defend Ruth. She needs somebody to defend her.”
So while Chepngetich’s mark will not be threatened this weekend as major marathon season closes in the Big Apple, Obiri can make a statement of her own. A fourth major win would establish her as a prolific winner in the world’s hardest races, setting up a potential 2025 showdown against the likes of Chepngetichor, Assefa and Sifan Hassan, or at least revealing her true potential on one of the fastest courses.
“Some people are running really fast times, it doesn’t scare me, I will say that I’m the best, because New York and Boston are tough courses, you can’t expect to run the world record there, or even 2:15,” Obiri explains. “As long as I’m winning, major marathons, I’m happy.
“If I do New York, 2:21, but in faster marathons, honestly, I can run 2:14, because 2:21 in Boston shows you’re in great shape. I’m not worried about times people post. I’m the best. People will say I’ve won three major marathons, that’s what people will say when my career is over.”
