The 2023 Chicago Marathon did not disappoint by any stretch of the imagination.
Some of the best athletes in the world lined up and recorded historic performances, breaking multiple records in the race. Sifan Hassan won the women’s race, running a new personal best and the second fastest time ever with her time of 2:13.44.
The American contingent had a very strong day in Chicago, with three American women finishing in the top 10 overall.
Emily Sisson finished seventh overall in the race, and was top American on the day, finishing with a time of 2:22.09. After the race, Sisson, who holds the American record (2:18:29), said that she ran with a side stitch around mile 18, and pushed through the pain to finish the race.
“Came away with a solid enough run,” she said on Instagram. Game plan was executed pretty well until about mile 18. I felt some tightness in my right side so I slowed down a bit to ease it. When I picked back up again it felt like some knives were stabbing into me 😅 running slower the rest of the way helped the pain. Even though I knew it wasn’t my best, I wanted to finish this race!!”
Molly Seidel made her return to the marathon course in impressive fashion. She finished eighth overall, and was the second American to finish in a personal best time of 2:23.07. She was happy with how the race played out, and that she was able to hit the standard to qualify for the Olympic Trials in February.
“It would have been great to try and dip under 23, but the plan today was to go out and not play it safe, but to go out, run smart, run a little bit conservative and then be able to finish feeling good,” she said in a post race interview. “And I feel like we did everything that we needed to do today. I finished feeling so excited to race again, and I feel like I just needed that positive momentum going into the [Olympic Trials].”
Sara Vaughn had a monster day on the marathon course, running a new personal best time of 2:23.24 which was good enough for 10th overall. She ran the third fastest time on the day for the American contingent as well.
“What. A. Day! Stayed patient early on, but then I saw my family at mile 16 and got a liitttle excited,” she said on Instagram. “Dropped it down and (mostly) held it. 3 minute PR, negative split, trying to be competitive through the finish line! 😅 I know they’re not all like this, so I’m going to enjoy.”
Some other notable performances included Gabi Rooker, who finished 11th overall with her time of 2:24.35, Dakotah Lindwurm, who finished 12th overall with her time of 2:24.40, Emma Bates, who finished 13th overall with her time of 2:25.05, Tristin Van Ord, who finished 14th overall with her time of 2:25.58 and Des Linden, who broke the American Masters record with her time of 2:27:35.
