Swiss Catherine Debrunner took the top spot in the women’s wheelchair race at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday, recording a time of 1 hour, 33 minutes, and 16 seconds.
This time breaks her previous unofficial world record that she set at the Berlin Marathon in 2023 with a time of 1:34:16 by exactly a minute.
“NBC Chicago said she had “shattered her own world record.””
Debrunner dominated from the beginning to the end of the race.
The first 5K was covered in 11:05, while the first 15K was achieved in 32:04.
She was running 45:42 after covering the half-marathon distance. Even after covering 20 miles she still had a commanding lead with a time of 1:10:11 and she maintained the lead even after covering 25 miles in 1:28:38.
The difference from the rest was significant. American Tatyana McFadden came second with the result of 1:42:01, losing almost eight and a half minutes from the winner.
Swiss Manuela Schar got the identical result, 1:42:01, taking the third place.
American Hannah Dederick finished fourth in 1:47:12, with Brazilian Vanessa Cristina De Souza fifth in 1:47:14. All results are unofficial.
Debrunner claimed that she had no intention of breaking the world record when she came to Chicago.
She acknowledged that the atmosphere and the circumstances contributed to her success. Chicago has a flat course, and the weather at the time of the event is always favorable.
The record that she smashed had been there for three years.
She created it in Berlin in 2023, clocking 1:34:16 and earning her second Berlin championship. Now, she has broken it by 60 seconds on a new track.
This sort of difference is huge in a race where even seconds matter.
This is not her first victory in Chicago. In 2023 she ran her debut race in the US marathon scene and set the course record, finishing in 1:38:44.
In 2024 she won once more in 1:36:12, setting the course record. This year’s 1:33:16 improves on that by just under three minutes.
In all the years except one, she has run the Chicago Marathon, and she has won it in record-breaking times.
After a successful spring campaign, Debrunner went on to win her first race. She was the runner-up in the 2026 Boston Marathon.
Afterwards, she took victory in her fourth London Marathon race on April 26, clocking 1:38:29.
Now, Chicago has provided her with yet another record win after she has been at the top throughout the season.
The defending champion of Chicago was absent from the starting point.
As the defending women's wheelchair champion, Susannah Scaroni was not in the race to greet her new baby.
The absence of this competitor made her not pose a serious challenge to Debrunner.
Time needs to be validated. World record times can only be verified once the regulatory authority validates the race result and course.
Marathon times are generally considered valid once the course measures up to the standards.
Chicago is an approved course and their previous results have been recognized before.
