Tilahun Regassa of Ethiopia placed second at the 2015 Xiamen Marathon and fifth at the 2015 London Marathon. He made his marathon debut in Chicago in 2012 and achieved a time that remains his personal best, 2:05:27.

Regassa comes to Chicago with a respectable marathon record as two-time winner of the De Lage Landen Marathon Eindhoven in the Netherlands in 2013 and 2014 as well as winner of the 2013 Rotterdam Marathon in the Netherlands.