In what was his 40th career victory over the 42.2-kilometre distance and fifth on the Chicago circuit, Fearnley out-sprinted 10 other men in the final metres to be first to break the tape.

He clocked a time of one hour, 36 minutes and 46 seconds to beat home Marcel Hug and defending champion Josh George, both of whom finished two seconds behind him.

The effort shows he is in good form ahead of the world titles, which begin on October 23 in Doha, Qatar.

“Normally there’s only a handful of us turning the final corner into the home straight, so to have a dozen blokes there shows the calibre of this year’s field,” he said.

“The most tense moment was probably coming up that bridge with about 500 metres to go and I was side by side with an American – Aaron Pike – he’s a good mate of mine.

“We clashed elbows a few times and I was lucky to get a break.

“It’s one of those races where the last 30 seconds you feel like you’re about to vomit the whole way. It’s just everything you have is going into pushing.”

The field for this year’s men’s race was full of quality with veteran Ernst Van Dyk, Hug and George seen as Fearnley’s biggest threats.

In 2014 George beat home Fearnley in the final sprint while a year earlier it was Van Dyk who relegated the former CSU student to second place.

This time around Fearnley, who has never finished off the podium in Chicago, was determined to go one better.

Racing was tight through with the biggest gap between first and last as the race unfolded being seven seconds.

The pace was also kept high throughout, hovering around at least 25km/hr, while Fearnley’s split from the 5km-10km marker of nine minutes, 58 seconds saw him pushing in excess of 30km/hr.

At the 40km point the race was still wide open with Fearnley sitting in sixth position.

Using the experience which has led him to nine Paralympic Games medals, Fearnley waited until the final 200 metres to make his move. His acceleration caught his rivals out and he charged to victory.

It took a photo to split Hug and Cassidy behind him with all 11 competitors finishing within 12 seconds of Fearnley.

“That was a great race”, Fearnley said.

“I spent about 40 kilometres of the 42 kilometres chasing the wheel of Huggy [Hug] but knew the final climb was my chance to pounce. I managed to get my nose in front and hold on until the finish.

“Josh got one over me here last year, so it was nice to pull one back and beat him to the line this year.”

Fearnley’s attention now turns to Doha where he will compete in 1500m and 5000m events, before returning to the United States at the end of the month where he will attempt to defend his New York Marathon title.

“It’s a busy month but I wouldn’t swap it for the world. I’ve got a couple of days breather at home to see the wife and young fella, then off to Qatar, then back into New York,” he said.

“It’s a busy finish to the year but I’ve been working towards it for months, so I’m pretty excited.”