2018 Chicago Marathon
The women's race was won by Kenya's Brigid Kosgei in a personal best time of 2:18:35, nearly three minutes ahead of the next finisher.[4][5] In the elite men's race, the defending champion, American Galen Rupp, had his participation announced in a May 2018 press release.Brit Mo Farah, who had run a personal best of 2:06:21 at the London Marathon in April, had his participation announced in a press release in June.Other participants included Ethiopians Mosinet Geremew and Birhanu Legese who achieved personal bests of 2:04:00 and 2:04:15, respectively, at the 2018 Dubai Marathon, Kenyans Kenneth Kipkemoi, Paul Lonyangata, Geoffrey Kirui, Bedan Karoki, Stephen Sambu, and Augustine Choge, and Japanese runners Yuki Kawauchi, Suguru Osako, and Ryo Kiname.[6] She was joined by Americans Amy Cragg, who held a personal best of 2:21:42 set at the 2018 Tokyo Marathon, and Laura Thweatt, announced in a press release in July.The fourth fastest in the women's field, Tatyana McFadden returned to attempt to win her eighth consecutive Chicago Marathon victory and to defend her course record of 1:39:15.The race was to be "hotly contested" by McFadden and the likes of the Swiss Manuela Schär, Americans Amanda McGrory and Susannah Scaroni, and Australian Madison de Rozario.De Rozario had moved to marathon racing the previous year and had managed a fourth-placed finish in Chicago in a time of 1:39:22.Also in the field were Switzerland's Sandra Graf, Netherlands' Margriet van den Broek, Americans Katrina Gerhard and Arielle Rausin and Brazilian Aline dos Santos Rocha.Hug had most recently won in Boston and finished second in London, and with a personal best of 1:18:04, he was the fastest in the field.Starting with the 2014 race, runners could either enter the lottery for a chance to participate or earn guaranteed entry through a variety of methods.[21] Geremew crossed the line in 2:05:24 with Osako coming third in an Asian record of 2:05:50, an achievement which earned him ¥100 million (equivalent to $879,000 in 2018) through a marathon development project by the National Corporate Federation of Japan.