Washington (AFP)

The Ethiopian Seifu Tura, thanks to an acceleration in the last kilometers, and the Kenyan world champion Ruth Chepngetich, leading from start to finish, won the men's and women's marathons in Chicago in the United States.

The event, canceled last year due to Covid, took place this year in hot and windy weather in the Great Lakes metropolis, nicknamed "Windy City".

Tura, who had not qualified for Ethiopia's team for the Tokyo Olympics, escaped in the final kilometers to win the race in 2 h 6 min 12 sec, with 23 seconds left. ahead of American Galen Rupp and 39 seconds ahead of Kenyan Eric Kiptanui.

“I'm very happy to have won here in Chicago,” he said.

"I've been preparing for this race for over three months. If it hadn't been for the heat, I was aiming for a better personal performance," he said.

Chepngetich took the lead in the women's race from the start and won her 5th marathon in six starts in 2 h 22 min 31 sec, relegating the Americans Emma Bates and Sara Hall at 1 min 49 sec and 4 min 48 respectively. dry.

"It was a good race but not easy," she said, despite her comfortable victory.

"I pushed on my own from the 10th kilometer", when she was already 27 seconds ahead of her compatriot Vivian Kiplagat who finished 5th.

Chepngetich overtook a male competitor after 40 minutes of racing, reached halfway in 1:07:04, bringing his lead over Kiplagat to 1 min and 16 seconds.

Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich victorious in the Chicago Marathon, October 10, 2021 KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI AFP

The Kenyan, 27, set the world record for the half marathon in April in Istanbul in 1 h 04 min 02 sec and set her best personal performance in 2 h 17 min 08 sec during her victory in Dubai in 2019, a time which constitutes the 4th best female performance of all time.

The American Daniel Romanchuk for his part won his third consecutive Chicago wheelchair marathon as the victory in the women's category in this category went to his compatriot Tatyana McFadden for the 9th time since 2009.

© 2021 AFP