Only the world record holder, Britain's Paula Radcliffe, has run faster than Shobukhova - and the 37-year-old Briton managed a relatively modest 2:23:46 in her first race for two years at Berlin last month.

Despite warm conditions - it was 64 degrees at the start, and nearly 70 degrees at the finish for the leaders - Shobukhova recorded a personal best by nearly two minutes and a national record for the Russian, who had switched from her normal tactic of starting conservatively and then running a negative split.

She said her coach - who is also her husband, Igor Shobukhov - told her that to run sub-2:20 she had to run a different race.

"We decided to go out fast right away," Shobukhova said.

Aiming for a first half of 1:09:30, she ran 1:09:25, and still was able to finish faster with the second half only taking 1:08:55.

The women's runner-up, Ejegayehu Dibaba of Ethiopia, clocked 2:22:09 in her first road race ever, and her time was still the third fastest ever for a women's debut marathon.

Shobukhova, who had trained at altitude prior to Chicago, had targeted a time of 2:19.

Instead, she achieved the second fastest time ever by a woman in Chicago behind the 2:17:18 run by Radcliffe in 2002.


Mosop, who clocked 2:05:38, suffered an Achilles tendon injury after running a 30,000-metre world record on the track in Eugene in June, and was unable to return to action until August.

Even then, according to his coach Renato Canova, the man named by his fellow Kenyans as The Big Engine was only able to run slowly, "like an amateur", because an unusual amount of rain made the muddy, red clay roads in Kenya too slippery.

Canova added that his man had only returned to proper training at the start of September, which meant he had arrived in Chicago with one month less training than would have been ideal.

"If this is 80 per cent," said NBC television commentator Toni Reavis, while watching Mosop crush the field.

"I'm frightened."

Mosop will collect $190,000 - $100,000 (£121,000 - £64,000/€140,000 - €74,000) for the win, $50,000 (£32,000/€37,000) for a course record, and $40,000 (£26,000/€29,000) for a sub-2:06.

After running the second fastest time ever for a marathon in his debut in Boston (2:03:06) and his 30,000m world record on the track, Mosop has had one of the fastest and most successful years ever.

His two marathon times combined are the fastest ever run in a single year.

When asked what he thought he could have run if he had been fully prepared for Chicago, both he and his coach said that 2:02 was within Mosop's capabilities.

Britain's Claire Hallissey, running only her second marathon, joined Radcliffe inside the UK Athletics qualifying time of 2:31:00 as she finished sixth in 2:29:27.

It was a giant step forward for the Bristol-based runner, who ran 2:36.12 in her debut marathon at New York last year, when she was 18-years-old.

Britain can field three women in the London 2012 event, and Jo Pavey and Mara Yamauchi are also likely to be strong contenders.

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