Women's Marathon: Chebii Breaks the Course Record, Bareikis Returns to the Podium

• Lilian Chebii, 2:25:26 — a new women's course record, shattering the previous mark of 2:26:51 that had stood since 2001/2004, at a 5:33/mi average across 3,216 finishers.
• Jane Bareikis, 2:32:04 — defending champion (2:32:52 in 2025) returns and goes faster, finishing 2nd and actually improving on her winning time from a year ago.
• Caroline Hill surged from 10th at 25K to finish 3rd in 2:33:25, posting the fastest women's split on the 30K–35K segment to make one of the day's boldest late moves.
• Yonca Kutluk Ala and Dana Feyen both clocked 5:54/mi to finish 5th (2:34:30) and 6th (2:34:47) respectively — 17 seconds separating them across 26.2 miles.

Lilian Chebii came to Saint Paul and rewrote history. Running 5:33 per mile from Minneapolis to the State Capitol, the 32-year-old from Grand Prairie, TX, led the women's race wire-to-wire — holding first place at every checkpoint — and crossed in 2:25:26, breaking a course record that had survived for over two decades. She also posted the fastest women's split on the 5K–10K segment, a signal early on that this was no ordinary day.

Behind her, Jane Bareikis made the most compelling return story of the morning. The 32-year-old from Crestwood, IL, won this race in 2025 with a 2:32:52 — and came back in 2026 to run 2:32:04, going 48 seconds faster than her own winning effort. She sat second from the opening kilometer and never left that spot, finishing 6:38 behind Chebii but well clear of the rest of the field.

Third place belonged to Caroline Hill, and she earned it the hard way. The 25-year-old from Auburn Hills, MI, was as far back as 10th at 25K before unleashing the fastest women's split of the entire field on the 30K–35K stretch. That surge carried her to 3rd in 2:33:25. Ari Fisher (4th, 2:34:14) and Yonca Kutluk Ala (5th, 2:34:30) also made significant moves through the back half — Fisher climbing from 8th at 20K, Ala bouncing between 3rd and 8th before locking in her spot.

The depth of the women's field was real. Seven runners broke 2:36, and Jennifer Pope (11th, 2:43:04) led a strong masters contingent. Jen Van Otterloo, who finished 9th here in 2024 in 2:46:12, came back to go 15th in 2:48:00 — a minute and change slower, but another completed journey along the Mississippi.