Elvan Abeylegesse, is an Ethiopian-born Turkish middle and long-distance running athlete who competes over distances from 1500 metres up to the marathon, and also in cross country. She is the former world record-holder for the 5000 metres, at 14:24.68 minutes.
Tirunesh Dibaba is an Ethiopian athlete who competes in long-distance track events and international road races. She has won three Olympic track gold medals, five World Championship track gold medals, four individual World Cross Country (WCC) adult titles, and one individual WCC junior title. Tirunesh was the 5,000 metres world record holder until 2020 when her compatriot Letesenbet Gidey set a new world record. She is nicknamed the "baby-faced destroyer."
Meselech Melkamu is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. She defeated Meseret Defar to win the 5000 metres gold medal at the 2008 African Athletics Championships, but she is better known for her 29:53.80 run over 10,000 metres in 2009, which until August 2016 ranked her second on the all-time list behind world record holder Wang Junxia. She is one of seven woman in history to break the 30-minute barrier and one of four Ethiopians to accomplish the feat.
Sabrina Mockenhaupt is a German long-distance runner who specialises in track events and the marathon. She is a two-time winner of the Cologne Marathon and has also won the Frankfurt Marathon and the Berlin Half Marathon. She represented Germany at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and was the 3000 metres bronze medallist at the 2005 European Indoor Championships. She has a marathon best of 2:26:21, set at the 2010 Berlin Marathon.
Sally Jepkosgei Kipyego is a Kenyan-born American long- and middle-distance runner. She was the silver medalist in the 10,000 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and the silver medalist in the same race at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She has a personal record of 30:38.35 minutes for that event and her 5000 metres best of 14:30.42 minutes makes her the second fastest Kenyan woman for the distance.
Genzebe Dibaba Keneni is an Ethiopian middle- and long-distance runner. A 1,500 metres 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist, she won a gold medal in this event and a bronze in the 5,000 metres at the 2015 World Championships. Genzebe is the current world record holder for the indoor events of the one mile, 3,000m and 5,000m.
Sandra Perković is a Croatian discus thrower. She is a two-time Olympic and world champion and a record six-time European champion which no other female athlete achieved. She is also a six-time Diamond League winner, prevailing in 46 circuit's meetings.
Hitomi Niiya is a Japanese professional long-distance runner who competes in track, cross country running and marathon races. Niiya competed for Japan at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She is a two-time silver medallist at the Asian Athletics Championships and has represented Japan three times at the World Athletics Championships. She represents Team Toyota Industries in national competition.
Lisa Christina Nemec is a Croatian American long-distance runner. Born and raised in the United States, where she competed for the Columbia University, Stublić moved to Croatia, her father's homeland, and established herself as a leading long-distance athlete in the country, having set the Croatian records in 3000 meters steeplechase, 5000 meters, half marathon, and marathon. She is the first Croatian marathon runner ever to qualify for the Olympic Games. She finished 52nd in the marathon at the 2012 Olympics.
Croatia competed at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics from August 27 to September 4 in Daegu, South Korea. A team of 6 athletes represented the country in the event. The team was led by defending high jump champion and medal hope Blanka Vlašić.
Hellen Onsando Obiri is a Kenyan middle- and long-distance runner. She is the only woman to have won world titles in indoor track, outdoor track and cross country. Obiri is a two-time Olympic 5000 metres silver medallist from the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she also placed fourth over the 10,000 metres. She is a two-time world champion after winning the 5000 m in 2017 and again in 2019, when she set a new championship record. Obiri also took world bronze for the 1500 metres in 2013 and silver in the 10,000 m in 2022. She won the 3000 metres race at the 2012 World Indoor Championships, claimed silver in 2014, and placed fourth in 2018. She is the 2019 World Cross Country champion. Obiri triumphed in the 2023 Boston Marathon, her second marathon race. She places fifth in the half marathon on the world all-time list.
Gladys Cherono Kiprono is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who competes in track and road running events. She became the first woman to win both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres at the African Championships in 2012. She is a three-time winner of the Berlin Marathon and the 8th fastest women marathoner of all time.
Sifan Hassan is an Ethiopian-born Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She is most recognized for her versatility in running championship and world leading performances in widely disparate distances. She completed an unprecedented triple at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning gold medals in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres and a bronze medal for the 1500 metres. Hassan is the only athlete in Olympic history to win medals across a middle-distance event and both long-distance races in a single Games. She is only the second woman to complete an Olympic distance double.
Konstanze "Koko" Klosterhalfen is a German middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2019 World Championship bronze medallist and 2022 European champion in the 5000 metres, becoming the first German medalist of the event at the World Athletics Championships and the first German winner of the event at the European Athletics Championships. At the European Indoor Championships, Klosterhalfen won silver medals for the 1500 metres in 2017 and the 3000 metres in 2019 and 2023. She took four individual medals at the European Cross Country Championships. In February 2020, she set a European indoor record in the 5000 m with 14:30.79, the fourth fastest time ever.
Joyciline Jepkosgei is a Kenyan female long-distance runner who competes over distances from 10,000 metres to the marathon. She is the former half marathon world record holder in contests with mixed-gender fields with her personal best of 64:51 minutes, and additionally the former world record holder in the 10 km with 29:43 minutes. She was a bronze medallist over 10,000 m at the African Championships in Athletics in 2016. Jepkosgei ran a world record for the half marathon of 1:04:52 at the Prague Half Marathon in April 2017, becoming the first woman ever to break 65 minutes. She also unofficially broke the IAAF-ratified records for 10 km, 15 km and 20 km along the way, breaking a total of four world records in a single event. She became the first Kenyan ever to break six world records in six months.
Letesenbet Gidey is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who holds two world records and one world best. In the 10,000 metres, she is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, 2019 World silver medallist, and 2022 World champion.
Rosemary Monica Wanjiru is a Kenyan professional female long-distance runner. She won the silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 2015 African Games, and represented her country at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, finishing fourth in the 10,000 metres. Wanjiru won the 2023 Tokyo Marathon and placed second at the 2022 Berlin Marathon. With her Tokyo mark, she sits sixth on the marathon world all-time list.
