The World Marathon Majors (WMM) is a championship-style competition for marathon runners that started in 2006. A points-based competition founded on six major marathon races recognised as the most high-profile on the calendar, the series comprises annual races for the cities of Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York. In addition, each edition of the series recognises and includes the results of the major global championship marathon held in that year, usually on a one-off lapped course. These races are the biennial World Athletics Championships Marathon, and the quadrennial Olympic Games Marathon.
Mary Jepkosgei Keitany is a Kenyan former professional long distance runner. She was the world record holder in a women-only marathon, having won the 2017 London Marathon in a time of 2:17:01. As of November 2022, she placed fifth on the world all-time list at the marathon and eleventh on the respective world all-time list for the half marathon.
Sharon Jemutai Cherop is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specialises in the marathon. She won a bronze medal at the age of sixteen in the 5000 metres at the World Junior Championships. She was the bronze medal winner in the marathon at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and won the Boston Marathon in 2012.
Mare Dibaba Hurrsa is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. She won the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing. Dibaba is not related to track Olympic champion, world record holder and compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba.
Jemima Jelagat Sumgong is a Kenyan long-distance runner specialising in marathon races.
The 2012 Boston Marathon took place in Boston, Massachusetts on Monday April 16, 2012. It was the 116th edition of the mass-participation marathon. Organized by the Boston Athletic Association, it was the first of the World Marathon Majors series to be held in 2012. A total of 22,426 runners started the race. The competition was held in hot running conditions, reaching 88 °F (31 °C) that afternoon, and some of the 27,000 registered runners opted to take up the organizers' offer to defer their entry until the 2013 race.
Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from 12 to 21 August 2016, at the Olympic Stadium. The sport of athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics was made into three distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking events.
The men's marathon at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Luzhniki Stadium and Moscow streets on 17 August.
Eunice Jepkirui Kirwa is a Kenyan-born Bahraini long-distance runner who specialises in marathon running. Having switched countries in 2013, she is the Bahraini record holder with 2:21:17 hours for the distance, set in 2017 at Nagoya Women's Marathon. She was the silver medallist in the marathon at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.
The men's marathon at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro took place on the Sambódromo on 21 August, the final day of the Games. One hundred fifty-five athletes from 79 nations competed. The event was won by Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, the nation's second victory in the event in three Games. Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia took silver, while Galen Rupp of the United States took bronze. The defending champion going into the marathon was Ugandan Stephen Kiprotich.
The women's 10,000 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on 12 August at the Olympic Stadium. The gold medal was won by Ethiopian Almaz Ayana—in only her second 10,000 m race on the track—in a world record time of 29 minutes, 17.45 seconds. London 2012 bronze medallist Vivian Cheruiyot won silver for Kenya, with reigning Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia taking bronze.
The women's marathon at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 30 August. The winning margin was one second which as of 2024 is the only time the women's marathon has been won by less than three seconds at these championships.
The 2016 London Marathon was the 36th running of the annual marathon race in London, England, which took place on Sunday, 24 April. The men's elite race was won by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and the women's race was won by Kenyan Jemima Sumgong. The men's wheelchair race was won by Marcel Hug from Switzerland and the women's wheelchair race was won by American Tatyana McFadden.
Volha Siarheyeuna Mazuronak is a Belarusian long-distance runner and former racewalker. She is a three-time national champion. Mazuronak has a marathon best of 2:23:54 and finished fourth at the London Marathon in 2016. She has won marathons in Siberia and California and was a silver medalist on the track at the 2015 Military World Games.
In 2016, the foremost athletics events will be staged at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The two other major global level competitions in 2016 are the World Indoor Championships and World Half Marathon Championships.
Rose Chelimo is a Kenyan-born Bahraini long-distance runner who competes in road running events up to the marathon distance. She is the 2017 IAAF world champion. She represented Bahrain at the 2016 Summer Olympics, placing eighth in the women's marathon.
The women's marathon was one of the road events at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London. It took place on 6 August 2017 on the streets of London, and consisted of four laps of a roughly 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) course which passed several of London's landmarks. For the first time in World Championships history, the men's and women's marathons took place on the same day. The race was won by Rose Chelimo of Bahrain in 2:27:11, seven seconds ahead of Kenya's Edna Kiplagat in second. Amy Cragg of the United States finished in third, separated from Kiplagat by less than a second.
The 2018 Tokyo Marathon was the twelfth edition of the annual marathon race in Tokyo and was held on Sunday, 25 February. An IAAF Gold Label Road Race, it was the first World Marathon Majors event to be held that year. The men's race was won by Dickson Chumba in 2:05:30 hours while the women's race was won by Birhane Dibaba in 2:19:51. The men's runner-up Yuta Shitara set a Japanese national record time of 2:06:11 hours. This was also an Asian record. The host nation featured prominently in the men's race, with two runners in the top five and six of the top ten being Japanese. The Japanese women fared less well, with sixth-place Hiroko Yoshitomi being the best national performer.
The women's marathon event at the 2020 Summer Olympics started at 06:00 on 7 August 2021 in Sapporo. Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya won gold in 2:27:20 followed by world record holder and Kenyan teammate Brigid Kosgei with silver, and American Molly Seidel winning the bronze medal in her third-ever marathon.
The women's marathon was one of the road events at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. Due to the heat in Doha, the race was scheduled to begin at 23:59 on 27 September 2019, which made it the first midnight marathon in the history of the World Championships. Even with the unusual timing, the temperature was above 30 °C (86 °F) and the humidity over 70 per cent, making conditions difficult for running. Only 40 of the 68 entrants finished the race, which was won by Ruth Chepng'etich of Kenya in 2:32.43; the slowest winning time at the World Championships. Bahrain's Rose Chelimo was second in 2:33.46, with Helalia Johannes of Namibia third in 2:34.15.
