After two years of coming close to victory, Kenyan John Korir has officially secured his place at the top of the podium at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in historic fashion.

Korir, who won both the 2021 and 2022 Los Angeles Marathon, took first place in Chicago on Sunday, completing a victory that has been years in the making.

Korir ran in both the 2022 and 2023 Chicago Marathon, finishing third and fourth, respectively, despite posting two of the fastest times of his career. This year's finish, which recorded an unofficial time of 2 hours, 2 minutes and 44 seconds, also marked an unofficial personal best and the second-fastest men's marathon time in history, behind only the world record set by the late Kelvin Kiptum in 2010 2023.

“You know, when we came here we wanted to win,” Korir told NBC Chicago at the finish line. “We weren’t looking for time. But you know, my brother and my coach said, 'You're ready and just believe in yourself and you can do it.'”

After two years of near misses, Kenyan John Korir triumphed at the 2024 Bank of America Chicago Marathon with a personal best of 2:02:44, marking the second fastest marathon time in history.

The 2022 Chicago Marathon was Korir's first appearance in the race. In the 2022 version, he ran his marathon personal best time of 2:05:01 and came third in that race. This performance was followed by a fourth place finish in 2023 with a time of 2:05:09.

Korir began his marathon career in Ottawa in 2018 and finished second with a time of 2:09:14. He achieved his first marathon victories at the 2021 and 2022 Los Angeles Marathons.

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