A reality television face familiar to Love Island USA fans is trading villa drama for 26.2 miles of Chicago pavement this weekend. Elan Bibas, who became a breakout bombshell contestant on the dating show, is competing in Sunday's Bank of America Chicago Marathon as part of a personal campaign to run 12 races in 12 months and raise money for mental health causes.
Hey Alma identified Bibas as a Love Island USA Season 7 contestant who entered Casa Amor on Day 17. He was introduced on the show as a tech consultant from Toronto before being eliminated on Day 26. As FOX 32 Chicago reports, Bibas will compete in this weekend's Chicago Marathon while fundraising for mental health as part of his 12-races-in-12-months initiative.
Before reality television, Bibas studied applied science at Queen's University in Ontario and co-founded Cycle AI, an artificial intelligence user-research startup that was acquired in 2024, Hey Alma notes. Following the sale of his startup, he transitioned into endurance athletics and wellness content creation. He's no stranger to long-distance racing, either — he ran the 2025 New York City Marathon in 3 hours and 20 minutes and is sponsored by Brooks Running, per the outlet's reporting.
A Reality TV Résumé That Keeps Growing
Bibas's time in front of cameras didn't end with Love Island. In September 2026 he joined the cast of Season 4 of The Traitors Canada, a show built around tactical deception among its contestants, extending his public media presence beyond athletics. The following month after his Love Island run, in October 2025, he spoke about his own experience with anxiety during a guest appearance at the University of Miami Hillel, discussing mental wellness and faith with students, as reported by The Miami Hurricane.
That Miami talk adds personal weight to the mental health fundraising mission now driving his marathon schedule. Running a dozen races in twelve months is a demanding physical undertaking on its own, but doing so while publicly tying each finish line to mental health awareness raises the stakes of Sunday's effort in Chicago.
Running Into a Record-Breaking Field
Bibas won't be running alone — not by a long shot. The 48th Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday features more than 55,000 registered participants selected from a record applicant pool of over 200,000 people, making the 2026 field the largest starter group in the race's 48-year history. The 26.2-mile course starts and finishes in Grant Park, guiding runners through 29 city neighborhoods while drawing an estimated 1.7 million spectators, a flat urban loop globally renowned for fast personal records.
Charity-driven runners like Bibas represent a significant slice of that massive field. Guaranteed entries into the sold-out race through the official Charity Program required participants to raise a minimum of $2,200 for a designated non-profit organization, a threshold that has helped turn marathon weekend into one of the city's largest annual fundraising engines.
Charity Dollars Pour Into Chicago
Charity participants in the 2025 Chicago Marathon raised money for non-profits. An independent study commissioned by Bank of America also found that the 2025 race generated $756 million in total economic impact for the Chicago metro area while supporting 5,100 local jobs, underscoring just how much marathon weekend means to the city beyond the finish line.
Bibas joins a crowded field of cause-driven runners taking advantage of that platform this year. A Canadian runner is set to tackle the course in rigid leg braces to raise awareness for a cause called Aggie, while a Chicago man is running to give back after Lurie Children's saved his life, and a local club, Peace Runners 773 sent 60 runners into Sunday's race. Whether Bibas's social media following helps him clear his own fundraising minimum, or by how much, remains to be seen once the results are tallied after the race.
