Kenenisa Bekele Beyecha is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre from 2004 until 2020. He won the gold medal in both the 5,000 m and 10,000 m events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At the 2004 Olympics, he won the gold medal in the 10,000 m and the silver medal in the 5,000 m.
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.
Samuel Kamau Wanjiru was a Kenyan long-distance runner who won the 2008 Beijing Olympics Marathon in an Olympic record time of 2:06:32; becoming the first Kenyan to win the Olympic gold in the marathon. He became the youngest gold medallist in the marathon since 1932.
Eliud Kipchoge is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly specialized in the 5000 metres. Regarded as the greatest marathon runner of all time, he is the 2016 and 2020 Olympic marathon champion, and was the world record holder in the marathon from 2018 to 2023, with a time of 2:01:09 set at the 2022 Berlin Marathon, until that record was broken by Kelvin Kiptum at the 2023 Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:00:35. He has run four of the 10 fastest marathons in history.
Bernard Kiprop Kipyego is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon. His personal best for the event is 2:06:22 hours. He has reached the podium at the Amsterdam Marathon, Chicago Marathon, Boston Marathon, Paris Marathon and Tokyo Marathon.
Feyisa Lilesa is an Oromo long-distance runner from Ethiopia. He became the youngest man to run under 2:06 when he ran 2:05:23 in the men's marathon at the 2010 Rotterdam Marathon. He set his personal best of 2:04:52 in the marathon when he came in second place at the 2012 Chicago Marathon.
Wang Jiali is a Chinese long-distance runner who specialises in marathon running. She has won marathons in Zhengzhou and Beijing, as well as having won a bronze medal from the Asian Athletics Championships.
Wei Yanan is a Chinese marathon runner. She won the Beijing Marathon at the age of eighteen and has won marathons in Seoul, Shanghai and Dalian.
Fatuma Sado Dergo is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. She has a personal best of 2:26:09 hours and has won marathons in Hamburg, Los Angeles and Xiamen.
Dickson Kiptolo Chumba is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. He has won the Rome, Eindhoven, Tokyo, and Chicago marathons and has a personal best of 2:04:32 for the distance.
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 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 woman to complete an Olympic distance double. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Hassan secured a bronze medal in the women's 5,000 metres.
In 2015, the foremost athletics event was the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing. The two other major global level competitions in 2015 are the World Cross Country Championships and the IAAF World Relays.
Fred Musobo is a Ugandan mountain runner.
Shura Kitata Tola is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and half-marathon. He has raced in several World Marathon Majors, including the 2020 London Marathon, where he won the race in a time of 2:05:41, beating Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge, and the 2018 London Marathon where he finished in second place behind him. His other best performances include the 2017 Rome Marathon and 2017 Frankfurt Marathon victories and second places at the 2018 and 2022 New York City Marathon.
Brigid Jepchirchir Kosgei is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specialises in the marathon. She won the 2018 and 2019 Chicago Marathons, the 2019 and 2020 London Marathons and the 2021 Tokyo Marathon. Kosgei was the marathon world record holder for women running in a mixed-sex race, with a time of 2:14:04 achieved on 13 October 2019 at the Chicago Marathon. She won the silver medal in the marathon event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Ruth Chepng'etich, often spelled Ruth Chepngetich, is a Kenyan road racing athlete, who competes in the marathon and other long distance events. She was the 2019 Marathon World champion in hot and humid conditions. Chepng'etich twice won the Chicago Marathon, in 2021 and 2022. Her personal best in the marathon sits second on the world's all-time list. She holds the third-fastest mark of all time for the half marathon.
The 2019 Chicago Marathon was the 42nd annual running of the Chicago Marathon held in Chicago, Illinois, United States on October 13, 2019. The men's race was won by Kenyan Lawrence Cherono in 2:05:45 while the women's was won by Kenyan Brigid Kosgei in 2:14:04, a world record by 81 seconds. The men's and women's wheelchair races were won by Daniel Romanchuk and Manuela Schär in 1:30:26 and 1:41:08, respectively. More than 45,000 runners completed the race.
Valary Jemeli Aiyabei is a Kenyan long-distance runner. In 2019, she set a new course record of 2:19:10 in the Frankfurt Marathon.
Medina Deme Armino is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. In 2019 and 2020 she won the Xiamen International Marathon held in Xiamen, China. In 2019, she won with a time of 2:27:25 and in 2020 she improved her time to 2:26:12.
Raymond Kipkoech is a Kenyan marathon runner who won the 2002 Berlin Marathon. He also won the 2004 Venice Marathon, the 2005 Xiamen International Marathon, and the 2011 Jerusalem Marathon.
Ethiopia 
