Ruth Chepng’etich (Ethiopia) ran a 2:09:56, eclipsing Tigst Assefa’s (Kenya) 2:11:53 from the 2023 Berlin Marathon.
Just as a comparison, in 1969 Derek Clayton(Australia) held the record at 2:08:33 while the women’s record, held by Jacqueline Hansen (United States), was 2:38:19. A 29:46 minute gap is down to a 9:24 gap.
(Those were the records when I started running in 1976).
We always enjoy watching the telecast - partially because the coverage is so poor (compared to the amazing coverage of so many other sports.)
The race was a bit of a bore, because both the men’s and women’s had so little drama. The women’s winner ran pretty much the whole race by herself with 2 pacers. The men’s winner broke away around mile 20 and just smoked the guys who had been with him.
Women’s WC was also no contest. Closest finish was men’s WC.
I’m curious about the relationship between the women’s winner and her pacer. To a large extent, he helped her get the record. After, he seemed very happy for her. Are they close friends, or was he just excited about being a part of the world record? I wondered if he was hanging close to increase his profile.
Also a tad disappointed at the skyline representation in the “Chicago-themed” Nike singlets.
Agreed on the skyline. I don’t think I would have instantly thought “Chicago” skyline by casually seeing that. It’s too crowded and jumbled. Also, why are the back and the front the essentially same image. I would have had the skyline wrap around the entire singlet.
Even the limited Chicago skyline on the Illinois license plates is better.
Now you’ve gone too far! 
I heard an interview on NPR with another female marathon runner taking about the new record, and how women have been running faster and faster in recent years. She said you need to mention the shoes. Shoes have gotten better. But what interested me was that she felt the most important way they’ve gotten better is that they have more foam, and this means women can train harder without injuring themselves. She says that recovery time from training is much shorter with modern shoes.
That doesn’t address why the gap between women’s times and men’s times is shrinking. The top men are using the same shoe technology.
Also, she said that there are some ultra-marathon races where the top women are beating the top men, which i thought was interesting.
The ultra marathons that women are beating men in tend to be the off-road/trail races such as Western States 100. Superior oxygen uptake is much less of a factor in those.
On the road and track races, men still come out ahead.
Regarding the closing gap in race times, women are still catching up from the effects of being held back for so many decades.