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Galen Rupp's 2:06:55 at 40, Age-Graded

Sven6 min read
Galen Rupp's 2:06:55 at 40, Age-Graded%RACERECORDS
Galen Rupp's 2:06:55 at 40, Age-Graded

Galen Rupp crossed the line in Chicago on 11 October in 2:06:55. Eleventh. Three Americans were ahead of him.

He was 40. Run his time through the RaceRecords engine and it scores 97.12%. Re-rank the men's top 11 by age grade and he moves from eleventh to fourth, ahead of Jacob Kiplimo and every other American man in it.

The results page puts him eleventh, and that's where the coverage stopped. So I graded the top of the field.

What does Rupp's 2:06:55 at 40 age-grade?

Galen Rupp's 2:06:55 at 40 grades 97.12% on the Alan Jones 2025 road table. The M40 marathon factor is 0.9783, so his 2:06:55 is worth 2:04:10 in open terms. That's the time the tables say a runner in his prime would need to match it.

So the arithmetic. 2:06:55 is 7,615 seconds. Multiply by 0.9783 and you get 7,450 seconds, or 2:04:10. Divide the men's open standard of 2:00:35 by that and you get 97.12%.

If you've read what an age-graded percentage means, that's well into the world-class band. In open terms, 2:04:10 would have finished fourth on the day, between Mengesha's 2:03:46 and Kiplimo's 2:04:18.

Fourth in the Chicago top 11 by age grade

Rupp is fourth of the men's top 11 once everyone is age-graded. Graded at the open factor, only the top three outscore him. The ten men who beat him by time include three Americans (Clayton Young, Charles Hicks and Vincent Mauri) and Jacob Kiplimo.

Chicago 2026 men's top 11, re-ranked by age gradeHorizontal bars ranked by age-graded percentage, starting at 94 percent. Each row shows the runner's finishing place by clock. Galen Rupp is highlighted.RUNNER · TIME · CLOCK PLACEAmos Kipruto2:01:09 · 199.53%Tadese Takele2:02:56 · 298.09%Milkesa Mengesha2:03:46 · 397.43%Galen Rupp (40)2:06:55 · 1197.12%Jacob Kiplimo2:04:18 · 497.01%Boki Diriba2:05:01 · 596.45%Daniel Mateiko2:05:01 · 696.45%Clayton Young2:05:23 · 796.17%Charles Hicks2:05:35 · 896.02%Akira Akasaki2:05:47 · 995.87%Vincent Mauri2:06:45 · 1095.13%
Age-graded with the RaceRecords engine (Alan Jones 2025 road table, men's open standard 2:00:35). Rupp graded at 40 (factor 0.9783). Everyone else graded at the open factor of 1.0000. Bars start at 94%. Times from NBC Sports' Chicago 2026 results, unofficial at the time of writing.
Clock placeRunnerTimeAG%AG rank
1Amos Kipruto2:01:0999.53%1
2Tadese Takele2:02:5698.09%2
3Milkesa Mengesha2:03:4697.43%3
4Jacob Kiplimo2:04:1897.01%5
5Boki Diriba2:05:0196.45%6
6Daniel Mateiko2:05:0196.45%6
7Clayton Young2:05:2396.17%8
8Charles Hicks2:05:3596.02%9
9Akira Akasaki2:05:4795.87%10
10Vincent Mauri2:06:4595.13%11
11Galen Rupp (40)2:06:5597.12%4

I graded the top 11 men only, so a masters runner further down could in theory outgrade him. Times are from NBC Sports' results page (retrieved 2026-10-12), which still lists them as unofficial.

How does it compare with the best masters marathons?

Rupp's 97.12% is about three points short of the best masters marathons in the world. His 2:06:55 is a new American masters record.

For an American comparison, Elkanah Kibet ran 2:10:02 at the US Olympic Trials in Orlando in February 2024 (World Athletics, retrieved 2026-10-12). Kibet was 40 too. That grades 94.79%. Rupp ran 3:07 faster at the same age.

The world is a different list. Four masters marathons grade over 100% on the same table, and the fifth of the greatest men's masters marathons grades 99.14%. Kenenisa Bekele's 2:04:15 at 41 in London in 2024 grades 100.04%. That's the M40 world record, and it's 2:40 faster than Rupp, a year older.

So Rupp's run sits two points outside the men's top five. Fair enough for a run that was eleventh on the day.

It wasn't even the best masters marathon of the month. Mark Kiptoo's 2:15:24 at 50 in Frankfurt, two weeks later, grades 99.36%.

Sara Hall and Des Linden, age-graded

Sara Hall and Des Linden are both 43, and neither got near Rupp's grade. Sara Hall ran 2:32:35, which grades 89.50%. Des Linden ran 3:10:10, which grades 71.81%. Both times are from the official results.

Hall holds the American masters record, 2:23:45 at 41 in Valencia in December 2024 (Fast Women, Alison Wade, 2024-12-02). That grades 93.87%. So Chicago was about four points below her best, two years older. Still a 2:32 at 43.

Linden was never racing it. She came to Chicago as part of her build to a first 100-mile race later this autumn (Marathon Handbook, 2026-10-09). A 3:10 in that context is a long run with a medal at the end. Grading it is fair, reading anything into it isn't.

What does this mean for my own results?

Your place says less than your age grade. The results page tells you Rupp was eleventh. It doesn't tell you he outran Kiplimo on the age-adjusted clock.

The same thing happens at every level. Five-year age groups rank you against people up to five years younger or older, and the clock ranks you against everyone. The age grade is the only number that ranks you against what's possible at your age. It's the one I'd look at first. I did the same for Chicago's entry standards, and the methodology page shows how RaceRecords grades every race.

Sources

Age grades computed with the RaceRecords engine on the Alan Jones 2025 road table (open standards 2:00:35 men, 2:09:56 women). Rupp graded at 40 (factor 0.9783), Hall and Linden at 43 (0.9515), Kibet at 40, everyone else in the men's top 11 at the open factor of 1.0000.

Frequently asked questions

What is Galen Rupp's age-graded percentage for his 2026 Chicago Marathon?
Galen Rupp ran 2:06:55 at age 40 at the Chicago Marathon on 11 October 2026. On the Alan Jones 2025 road table the M40 factor is 0.9783, so his time is worth 2:04:10 in open terms and grades 97.12%. It was 11th overall and a new American masters record.
Where would Galen Rupp have placed in Chicago 2026 by age grade?
Fourth. Re-ranked by age-graded percentage on Alan Jones 2025, the men's top 11 reads Kipruto 99.53%, Takele 98.09%, Mengesha 97.43%, then Rupp 97.12%, ahead of Kiplimo at 97.01% and every other American. By the clock he was 11th.
How does Rupp's 2:06:55 compare with the masters marathon world record?
The M40 marathon world record is Kenenisa Bekele's 2:04:15 at 41 in London in 2024, which grades 100.04% on Alan Jones 2025. Rupp's 2:06:55 at 40 grades 97.12%, about three points lower and 2:40 slower by the clock.
What did Sara Hall and Des Linden run in Chicago 2026?
Both are 43. Sara Hall ran 2:32:35, which grades 89.50% on Alan Jones 2025. Des Linden ran 3:10:10, which grades 71.81%, as part of her build towards a first 100-mile race. Hall's American masters record of 2:23:45 at 41 grades 93.87%.
Why does age grading rank masters runners differently from the results page?
The results page ranks by clock time, so a 40-year-old competes against runners in their twenties. Age grading divides the world standard for your age by your time, so it ranks you against what is possible at your age. Galen Rupp was 11th by clock in Chicago 2026 and 4th by age grade.

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Grading tables: WMA 2023 (track) · Alan Jones 2025 (road). Last updated October 13, 2026.

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