Women's Chicago Marathon 2025: Hawi Feysa Gejia Seizes the Moment at the Front

• Winner: Hawi Feysa Gejia (Trento) crossed in 2:14:57 (5:09/mi), taking the lead between 20K and 25K and never looking back.
• Podium spread: Just over three minutes separated the top five — Megertu Alemu 2nd in 2:17:18, Magdalena Shauri 3rd in 2:18:03, Loice Chemnung 4th in 2:18:24, Mary Ngugi-Cooper 5th in 2:19:26.
• Early leader fades: Shauri led from the gun through 20K before losing the front — the fastest women's 5K→10K split belonged to Gejia, with Shauri second-fastest on that same stretch.
• Deep field: 24,561 women finished the 2025 Chicago Marathon, one of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, across a cool, near-ideal racing morning of 54°F.

Magdalena Shauri (Durban) set the early tempo, holding the top women's spot from the opening gun through 20K. She was running fast — her 5K→10K split was the second-quickest among the women — but Hawi Feysa Gejia was right there with her, posting the single fastest women's split on that same segment. The race was already being shaped by two athletes pushing each other through the first third of the course.

The decisive move came between 20K and 25K. Gejia, who had been tracking in second for the opening half, surged to the front and never surrendered it. Megertu Alemu, meanwhile, was making her own charge from fourth at the halfway point, running the fastest women's split on the 15K→20K segment and climbing to second by 25K — a position she held all the way to the finish line in 2:17:18. Shauri, her early pace no longer enough to match the leaders, settled into third at 2:18:03.

Behind the podium, Loice Chemnung (4th, 2:18:24) closed the race powerfully — her 35K→40K split was the second-fastest among all women on that segment — while Mary Ngugi-Cooper (Bradford) rounded out the top five in 2:19:26, posting the third-fastest women's split on the 30K→35K leg. The gap from first to fifth was just 4:29 across a brutally competitive elite field.

Further back, Natosha Rogers claimed 6th in 2:23:28, Dakotah Popehn (Hopkins) took 7th in 2:24:20, and Florencia Borelli (Oakland Gardens) finished 8th in 2:24:23 — just three seconds behind Popehn. Gabriella Rooker (Minneapolis) placed 9th in 2:26:32, and Melody Julien rounded out the top ten in 2:27:08. Gejia's 2:14:57 on a mild Chicago morning was the performance that defined the day.