Emily Sisson crushes American marathon record in Chicago, breaking it by 43 seconds

Correction/clarification: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the margin by which Emily Sisson lowered the American women's marathon record. She broke the record by 43 seconds. 

On Sunday, Emily Sisson ran her first mass marathon since dropping out of the Tokyo Olympic trials.

She was better than ever at the Chicago Marathon, breaking the record for the fastest women’s marathon by an American.

Sisson, 30, finished second overall in 2:18:29 – 43 seconds faster than the previous record of 2:19:12, set by Keira D’Amato in Houston on Jan. 16.

Sunday's Chicago Marathon was her first time lining up for the distance in 2 1/2 years. 

At the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, Sisson was unable to finish the race despite being one of the pre-race favorites.

"I came out of that race pretty broken,'' she later told the Register-Guard of Eugene, Oregon. "I was pretty confused after. Usually, I'm pretty good at moving on after bad races but that one was really hard for me.”

There was signs of strain Sunday as she reached the finish line and was greeted by the previous record holders – D'Amato, Deena Kastor and Joan Benoit Samuelson.

"It's amazing," said Sisson, who also holds the American women's record for the half marathon. “I mean, the women standing here today, they've all accomplished so much, so just to be amongst them is an incredible honor." 

During the race, Sisson said, she didn't know what pace she was on.

“I just was given instructions to go off my pacers and not think about time at all, so I had no clue what pace I was running until, I think, like a mile to go,'' she said. "A few people told me to pick it up, so I thought, oh, I must be close to either breaking 2:20 or the American record, but I didn’t know which one.”

Sisson, an 11-time Big East champion at Providence, dominated the field in the Olympic trials women's 10,000 meters prior to the Tokyo Games, finishing in 31 minutes, 3.82 seconds, which was a meet record. She was 10th in the 10,000 at the Olympics, pushed to 2021 due to the pandemic. 

Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich, the top woman finisher Sunday, ran the second-fastest women’s marathon in history. She finished in 2:14:18, just 14 seconds off the world record set by fellow Kenyan Brigid Kosgei in 2019.

“I wanted to break the world record … but I’m happy,” Chepngetich said after the race. “Next time, I will not miss it.”