Dibaba shows class as she takes honors at Chicago Marathon

Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba beat the defending champion when she won the 40th edition of the Chicago Marathon that was held on Sunday (8) in Chicago,Illinois.

Dibab who finished runner-up behind Mary Keitany in this year’s London Marathon in a time of 2:17.56, which made her the third fastest female marathon runner in history beat off the defending champion Florence Kiplagat when she cut the tape in 2:18.30.

Dibaba passed the half way mark with 1:08.48 with the three Kenyans Brigid Kosgei, Florence Kiplagat, Valentine Kipketer and USA’s Jordan Hasay – but it was clear that her patience was running thin, the Ethiopian zig-zagging around the road in a bid to prevent her rivals drafting in her slipstream

Kosgei held on well for second in 2:20.22, with 26-year-old Jordan Hasay marking herself out as a potential star in third, running a big personal best of 2:20,57 in the second career marathon of her career to move to second on the US all-time list. Kiplagat, the defending champion, had been on course for a sub-2:20 finish, but she withdrew shortly after 25 kilometres.

Dibaba, a three-time Olympic gold medallist on the track, said afterwards that the marathon will be her sole focus for the rest of her career. “I’m not going back to the track,” she said. “I’ll be targeting the world record in the marathon.”