American Record in Sight for Rupp at Chicago Marathon

By Adam Kopet

Galen Rupp will toe the line Sunday at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon with his focus on winning for the second straight year.

Rupp won the 2017 Chicago Marathon in a then personal-best 2:09:20. It was Rupp's first major marathon win and it was his fourth personal best in his four marathons.

Returning to the Windy City in 2018, Rupp now sports a personal best of 2:06:07, set in May at the Prague Marathon. That race came about after he dropped out of April's Boston Marathon with breathing issues.

According to Nick Zaccardi of NBC Sports, Rupp believes achieving the American record is possible this year. Khalid Khannouchi owns the record, also set in Chicago, from when he ran 2:05:38. At the time, that was the world record.

The record has become possible as Chicago Marathon organizers have added pace makers to this year's race, reversing a decision that saw the race go without since 2015.

However, even if Rupp gets the record, there is no guarantee it would be in a winning effort. Rupp will face a strong international field that includes three men who have run under 2:05 in their careers.

The race also features Rupp's former training partner Mo Farah of Great Britain. This is Farah's third marathon, but he owns a personal best not far off of Rupp's. In their careers, Rupp has only beaten Farah in one race out of 22. That one win came after Farah tripped and fell early in an indoor race. However, the two have never faced each other in the marathon.

If Rupp can pull off the win Sunday, he will have done so over a much stronger field than the one he beat in 2017.

There was worry in Chicago that the race could be disrupted by protests in the fall-out of the Laquan McDonald murder trial. The city was bracing for possible riots if the jury had come back with a not guilty verdict for police officer Jason Van Dyke. However, Friday's afternoon's verdict of guilty likely forestalls any major problems in a city that has been on edge.