Kenya's Moses Mosop won the Chicago Marathon in a course record Sunday as Russian Liliya Shobukhova claimed the women's title to become the first runner to win the event three straight times. Both champions pulled away to post emphatic victories, Mosop clocking 2hrs 05min 37sec to beat the previous course record of 2:05:41 set in 2009 by the late Sammy Wanjiru. Mosop led a Kenyan sweep of the podium. Wesley Korir was second in 2:06:15 and Bernard Kipyego third in 2:06:29. Ethiopia's Bekana Daba (2:07:59) and American Ryan Hall (2:08:04) completed the top five. Mosop had made his marathon debut in April at Boston, where he ran the second-fastest marathon in history but finished behind compatriot Geoffrey Mutai in a race that didn't meet world record specifications. The Kenyan was also second in this year's Paris Half-Marathon and set a world record of 1:26:47.4 in the 30,000 meters on the track in June at Eugene, Oregon. He said before the race that a sore Achilles tendon had affected his training, but he showed no sign of it as he powered through the final third of the race. Shobukhova, too, made it look easy as she won in 2:18:20. “I'm unbelievably happy,” she said. “It's something special.” Shobukhova's time might be enough to secure her 2012 Olympic berth. Ethiopia's Ejegayehu Dibaba was second in 2:22:09 and Japan's Kayoko Fukushi third in 2:24:38.
