Grete Waitz was a Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder. In 1979, at the New York City Marathon, she became the first woman in history to run the marathon in under two and a half hours. Waitz won nine New York City Marathons, women's division, between 1978 and 1988, the highest number of victories in a single big city marathon in history. She won the silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and a gold medal at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki. She was also a five-time winner of the World Cross Country Championships.
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.
Meseret Defar Tola is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes chiefly in the 3,000 metres and 5,000 metres events. She has won medals at top-tier international competitions including Olympic and World Championship gold medals over 5,000 metres. She broke the world record in the event in 2006, broke it again in 2007 and held it until 2008, when fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba beat her time.
Berhane Adere Debala is a retired Ethiopian long-distance runner who specialised in the 10,000 metres and half marathon. She won the gold medal in the 10,000 m at the 2003 World Championships and silver medals in the event at the 2001 and 2005 World Championships. Berhane claimed gold and silver for the 3,000 metres at the 2003 and 2004 World Indoor Championships, respectively. Her medal in 2003 was Ethiopia’s first world indoor medal in a women’s event. At the half marathon, she was the world champion in 2002, took silver in 2003 and bronze in 2001. She won the Chicago Marathon in 2006 and 2007.
Graeme Vincent Fell is a male former 3000 metres steeplechase runner.
Joyce Esther SmithMBE is a British former long-distance runner. She broke the world record in the 3000 metres in 1971 and is a three-time medallist at the International/World Cross Country Championships, including winning in 1972. She went on to twice win the London Marathon, becoming the first British woman in history to run under 2:30 when winning in 1981 with 2:29:57, before further improving the British record to 2:29:43 when winning in 1982. She also competed in the 1500 metres at the 1972 Munich Olympics and finished 11th in the marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, aged 46.
Gloria Marconi is an Italian long-distance runner.
Paula Fudge is an English former middle and long-distance runner. She won a gold medal in the 3000 metres at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, and on 13 September 1981 she set the world record for the 5000 metres with 15.14.51, the first recognised women's 5000m world record by the IAAF. This record remained the British record until 1985 when it was broken by Zola Budd. She also won a bronze medal in the 3000 metres at the 1982 European Indoor Championships.
Luiza Gega is an Albanian middle- and long-distance runner who specialises in the 3000 metres steeplechase since 2016.
Sifan Hassan is a 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 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres and a bronze medal for the 1,500 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 of three women to complete an Olympic distance double. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Hassan secured a bronze medal in both the women's 5,000 m and 10,000 m events and gold in the women's marathon, becoming the only woman to win the Olympic gold medal in the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres and Marathon races.
Roy Andersen is a former Norwegian long-distance runner.
Justin Gloden is a Luxembourgish athlete competing in the long-distance events. He represented his country in the marathon at the 1988 Summer Olympics finishing 36th out of 118 competitors. He also competed at the 1983 and 1987 World Championships.
Galina Zakharova is a Russian former long-distance runner who represented the Soviet Union. Her greatest success came at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships where she was the silver medallist in 1984 close behind winner Maricica Puică. She also won a team title with the Soviet women at the 1982 edition, having finished 18th.
Irina Bondarchuk is a Russian former Soviet long-distance runner.
Marcin Chabowski is a Polish long-distance runner. He finished fourth in the half marathon at the 2016 European Championships. He led for a large part of the marathon race at the 2014 European Championships but was caught by the chasers and eventually dropped out.
Joshua Kipkemboi is a retired Kenyan athlete who specialised in the 3000 metres steeplechase. He represented his country at the 1987 World Championships reaching the final where he failed to finish the race. In addition, he won the silver medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in addition to multiple medals at the continental level.
Klaus-Peter Nabein was a German middle- and long-distance runner. He won medals at the 1982 and 1987 European Indoor Championships. In addition, he competed at the 1989 World Indoor Championships. Later in his career he competed primarily in road races.
Lubomír Tesáček was a Czech long-distance runner. He won the gold medal in the 3000 metres at the 1984 European Indoor Championships. He also represented his country at the 1986 European Championships and the Friendship Games since his country boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Giuseppe Gerbi is an Italian male retired long-distance runner, steeplechaseer, than at the end of his career he became a marathon runner, he finished 6th in the 3000 m steeplechase at the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Bogusław Psujek was a Polish long-distance runner who specialised in the marathon. His most prominent victory was at the 1986 Berlin Marathon, which he won in a course record of 2:11:03 hours. He also won the Beppu-Ōita Marathon in 1990. He achieved his highest global ranking of ninth in the 1990 season, with a then Polish national record run of 2:10:26 hours in a seventh-place finish at the 1987 London Marathon.
Switzerland 
