Kenya's 2019 world champion Ruth Chepngetich is due to defend her Chicago Marathon title tomorrow ©Getty Images

Kenya’s 2019 world champion Ruth Chepngetich will defend her women’s title in the 44th running of the Chicago Marathon tomorrow - and with good weather forecast she has not ruled out a world record.

With a personal best of 2hr 17min 08sec the 2019 world champion is the only woman in the field who has bettered 2:20, and her recent form is good as she clocked 2:17:18 at Nagoya in March.

Speaking at the elite media conference for the Abbott World Marathon Majors race she was not fazed at the idea of trying to better the world record of 2:14:04 set by her compatriot Brigid Kosgei in this race three years ago.

"It’s possible to challenge the world record," she told reporters.

"The weather is good and I think I can feed off of the crowd."

Home runner Emily Sisson, whose only completed marathon was her London 2019 effort in 2:23:08, will seek to better 2:20 and will have her eye on the US record of 2:19:12 set in January by Keira d’Amato.

Sisson is fifth fastest in the women’s field, with Chepngetich’s time topping a list in which her fellow Kenyans Celestine Chepchirchir and Vivian Kiplagat are second and third with 2:20:10 and 2:20:18 respectively, and Ethiopia’s Haven Hailu Desse is in fourth on 2:20:19.

Ethiopia's Seifu Tura is due to defend his Chicago Marathon title tomorrow against a field that includes three strong fellow Ethiopian challengers ©Getty Images
Ethiopia's Seifu Tura is due to defend his Chicago Marathon title tomorrow against a field that includes three strong fellow Ethiopian challengers ©Getty Images

The weather forecast is for moderate temperatures and the direction of the wind - in the Windy City - is also likely to be favourable to the runners.

That emboldened some talk within the men’s elite field about targeting the course record of 2:03:45 set in 2013 by Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto, who set a then world record of 2:02:57 at the following year’s Berlin Marathon.

Ethiopia’s Seifu Tura will defend the men’s title he won last year in 2:06:12 and says he plans, as he did last year, to leave it late before making a decisive move - but he is ready to react to a different race.

His personal best of 2:04:29 came at last year’s Milan Marathon, where he finished fourth.

Earlier this year he was sixth at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Tura may be confident, but he is only the third fastest man in the field as his compatriots Herpasa Negasa and Dawit Wolde have run 2:03:40 and 2:04:27 respectively.

A fourth Ethiopian, Asrar Abderehman has clocked 2:04:43 and fifth in the list is Uganda’s Stephen Kissa, who ran 2:04:48 at this year’s Hamburg Marathon.