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MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Lilian Chebii Shatters 25-Year Women's Record as More Than 30,000 Sign Up for Twin Cities Marathon Weekend
Lilian Chebii won Sunday's Twin Cities Marathon in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 26 seconds, breaking a women's course record that had stood since 2001, while Victor Shitsama captured the men's race in his marathon debut during a record-setting weekend for participation.
SAINT PAUL, MN (October 5, 2026).
A women's course record that had survived for a quarter century fell Sunday as Lilian Chebii crossed the Twin Cities Marathon finish line at the Minnesota State Capitol in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 26 seconds, completing a weekend in which more than 30,000 runners registered for events across Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
Chebii, 32, broke the previous women's course record of 2:26:51, first established by Russia's Zinaida Semenova in 2001 and matched by Irina Permitina in 2004. Her performance lowered the mark by 1 minute and 25 seconds.
The margin between Chebii and the rest of the women's field was nearly as striking. Her closest competitor finished more than six minutes later.
Chebii entered the Twin Cities race with recent success in Minnesota distance running. She won the 2025 Grandma's Marathon in Duluth in 2:25:14, a performance remarkably close to the time she produced Sunday in the Twin Cities.
Victor Shitsama won the men's division in 2:12:20.
Shitsama, 28, was born in Kenya and competed collegiately in cross country at Oklahoma State University. His Twin Cities victory came in his marathon debut. Two other men's competitors also finished in less than 2 hours and 13 minutes, creating a tightly contested race near the front of the men's field.
The elite results were only part of the scale of Sunday's event.
More than 30,000 runners registered for races during the weekend, a record for the event. The marathon course carried runners from downtown Minneapolis through the city's lakes district, along the Mississippi River and into Saint Paul before the final stretch along Summit Avenue toward the State Capitol.
The course has long been promoted for its urban scenery, but the event is also one of the most complicated annual transportation operations in the Twin Cities. Streets across both Minneapolis and Saint Paul close progressively as runners move through the course, while police, volunteers, emergency medical teams and race officials coordinate access across two cities.
Sunday's weather offered considerably better racing conditions than some recent editions.
Temperatures were around 50 degrees at the start and had risen to approximately 57 degrees by 10 a.m., when the leading runners were reaching the finish. Temperatures were expected to climb into the 60s later in the day.
Weather has become an increasingly significant concern for the marathon. Organizers have already announced that the event will move deeper into October beginning in 2027 as unusually warm autumn conditions have become a recurring operational concern.
That makes Sunday's race notable beyond Chebii's record.
It demonstrated how much elite marathon performance can depend on conditions aligning with the athlete. Chebii maintained a pace sufficient to erase one of the longest-standing major records attached to the event, while Shitsama successfully navigated his first marathon against an experienced field.
The result also adds another significant Minnesota victory to Chebii's résumé after her Grandma's Marathon championship a year earlier.
For organizers, the participation record provides a different measure of the weekend's strength.
More than 30,000 registrations across the weekend represent thousands of individual runners arriving with family members, volunteers and spectators. The economic footprint extends into hotels, restaurants, transportation and other businesses in both central cities.
The marathon's route itself reinforces the unusual relationship between the two cities. Unlike sporting events contained inside a stadium, the Twin Cities Marathon occupies neighborhoods, parkways and major streets from Minneapolis to Saint Paul before ending outside the Capitol.
Sunday's results now add another piece to the race's history.
Semenova's 2001 women's record survived for 25 years, including being matched but not surpassed in 2004.
Chebii finally moved it.
Her 2:25:26 is now the time future Twin Cities Marathon women's champions will chase.
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