Two Reigning Chicago Marathon Champs to Return This Year

Rita Jeptoo and Tatyana McFadden headline elite athlete field

The 2014 Bank of America Chicago Marathon will feature two athletes attempting to win consecutive titles.

Marathon officials announced Wednesday that 2013 women's champion Rita Jeptoo and women's wheelchair winner Tatyana McFadden will be back this year to defend their crowns.

Jeptoo will try to improve upon her first career sub-2:20 marathon in Chicago last year where she ran a time of 2:19:57 -- the fastest women's time of the year.

Her 2014 marathon campaign began even stronger when she won the Boston Marathon in a time of 2:18:57, breaking the course record by nearly 2 minutes.

Jeptoo is on pace to become the third woman in history to run three sub-2:20 marathons, a feat only accomplished by Kenya's Catherine Ndereba and Great Britain's Paula Radcliffe, both former Chicago Marathon champions.

McFadden hopes to capture her fourth consecutive wheelchair Chicago Marathon victory and her fifth in the last six years.

She set a course record in 2013, finishing the race in 1:42:35 and breaking a mark set in 1992.

McFadden, a University of Illinois graduate, also won a silver medal in cross-country skiing at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

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