The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of 42.195 km, usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions. More than 800 marathons are held throughout the world each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes, as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.
This list is a chronological progression of record times for the marathon. World records in the marathon are ratified by World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of athletics.
Elizabeth Nuttall is a Scottish former middle- and long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres at the 1991 World Championships and a silver over the same distance at the 1988 Olympic Games. McColgan earned a silver in the 3000 metres at the 1989 World Indoor Championships. She was a two-time gold medalist in the event at the Commonwealth Games, 1992 World Half Marathon champion and a two-time individual medallist at the World Cross Country Championships. She claimed three victories at the World Marathon Majors: at the 1991 New York City Marathon, 1992 Tokyo Marathon and 1996 London Marathon.
Tegla Chepkite Loroupe is a Kenyan long-distance track and road runner. She is also a global spokeswoman for peace, women's rights and education. Loroupe holds the world records for 25 and 30 kilometers and previously held the world marathon record. She was the first African woman to hold the marathon World Record, which she held from 19 April 1998 until 30 September 2001. She is the three-time World Half-Marathon champion. Loroupe was also the first woman from Africa to win the New York City Marathon, which she has won twice. She has won marathons in London, Rotterdam, Hong Kong, Berlin and Rome.
Catherine Nyambura Ndereba is a retired Kenyan marathon runner. Between 2003 and 2008, she finished in the top two in five successive global championship marathons. Ndereba has twice won the marathon at the World Championships in Athletics and won silver medals at the Summer Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008, becoming Kenya's first female multi-medalist. She is also a four-time winner of the Boston Marathon and a two-time winner of the Chicago Marathon. It was at the latter in 2001 that she broke the women's marathon world record with a time of 2:18:47.
Catherina McKiernan is a former long-distance runner from Ireland, who competed in the marathon, 10,000 metres and cross country running.
The Berlin Marathon is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Held annually since 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of 42.195 kilometres (26.219 mi), including elite level road running competitions for men and women, a race for the public, an inline skating race, a wheelchair race, and a handcycle race.
Lornah Kiplagat is a Dutch professional long-distance runner. She was born in Kabiemit, Rift Valley Province, Kenya and came to the Netherlands in 1999. She gained Dutch citizenship in 2003 and has competed for the Netherlands since. She used to run not only road events but also in cross country and track and field.
Souad Aït Salem, also known as Souad Aït Mahour-Bacha is an Algerian long-distance runner who specializes mainly in the half marathon and marathon. She won gold in the 10,000 metres at the 2000 African Championships in Athletics and the 2005 Mediterranean Games. Salem also won the gold in the half marathon at the 2007 All-Africa Games. She holds the Algerian records for every women's event between 3000 metres and the marathon distance.
The Amsterdam Marathon is an annual marathon (42.195 km) in Amsterdam in the Netherlands since 1975. The road race has a Platinum Label from World Athletics. During the event, there are also a half marathon race (21.097 km) and an 8 km race in the program.
The women's marathon at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta was held on Sunday July 28, 1996, beginning at 07:05h local time. Sixty-five athletes finished the race while twenty-one dropped out mid-competition. A total of 86 competitors from 51 countries took part. There were also two competitors, Valentina Enachi of Moldova and Virginie Gloum of the Central African Republic, whose results were deemed unofficial due to procedural errors by their federations in submitting their entries in the event.
Kathrine Virginia Switzer is an American marathon runner, author, and television commentator.
The athletics at the 1997 Summer Universiade took place in the Stadio Cibali in Catania, Sicily (Italy) at the end of August 1997, shortly after the World Championships in Athens, Greece. New events were the women's hammer throw, pole vault and half marathon competition. The marathon was dropped from the programme in favour of the half distance. A total of 23 men's and 22 women's events were contested.
The Berlin Half Marathon is a major endurance event held annually in early spring in Berlin, Germany. Besides the runner's main race, the event includes a race for inline skaters, wheelchair athletes and handbikers. All athletes use the same course, which has the official half marathon distance of 21.0975 km.
Lyudmila Nikolayevna Petrova is a Russian long-distance runner, who represented her native country at two Summer Olympics: 1996 and 2004. She won the 2000 edition of the New York City Marathon.
The 6th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held on October 4, 1997, in the city of Košice, Slovakia. A total of 228 athletes, 144 men and 84 women, from 45 countries took part. Detailed reports on the event and an appraisal of the results was given.
The Women's marathon at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held starting and finishing at Gukchae – bosang Memorial Park on 27 August. A total of 54 runners began the race and twenty three nations were represented.
The IAAF World Marathon Cup was an international event organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations every two years.
The 1997 World Marathon Cup was the seventh edition of the World Marathon Cup of athletics and were held in Athens, Greece, inside of the 1997 World Championships.
Nobuko Fujimura is a Japanese female former long-distance runner who competed in the marathon. She won the Hokkaido Marathon in 1993 and the Tokyo Women's Marathon in 1996. She represented her country at the World Championships in Athletics (1997), IAAF World Cross Country Championships (1994), and was a bronze medallist at the 1994 Asian Games.
