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.
Mustafa Hassan Mohamed is a Swedish long-distance runner who mainly competes in the 3000 meter steeplechase.
Eliud Kipchoge is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly specialized in the 5000 metres. Regarded as one of the greatest marathon runners 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.
Danilo Goffi is a former Italian long-distance runner, who specializes in the marathon. He represented his country at the 1996 Summer Olympics and has also competed at the World Championships in Athletics. He was the silver medallist in the marathon at the 1998 European Athletics Championships.
Günther Weidlinger is an Austrian long-distance runner who is a former 3000 metres steeplechase specialist but now competes in the marathon.
Galina Yevgeniyevna Bogomolova is a Russian long-distance runner, who specializes in the 10,000 metres and the marathon.
Abderrahim Goumri was a Moroccan long-distance runner. He had competed in cross country, track, road running and marathon races.
Alejandro Gómez Cabral was a Spanish long-distance runner who specialized in the marathon and cross-country running.
Daniele Meucci is an Italian athlete who specialises in long-distance running, including track running, cross country and road running who won twenty medals at international level.
Andrea Lalli is an Italian long distance runner.
Cameron Levins is a Canadian long-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Levins had the best-Canadian finish ever of fourth in the marathon at the 2022 World Championships, setting a new Canadian record. He is the North American record holder for the marathon and the Canadian record holder for the half marathon.
Carl Edward Thackery is a retired British long-distance runner, who competed in the 1980s and 1990s.His daughter Calli Thackery is also an international standard runner.
Eseosa Fostine "Fausto" Desalu is an Italian sprinter who specialises in the 200 metres winning a silver medal in that event at the 2018 Mediterranean Games and a gold medal in the 4×100 m relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Abdi Nageeye is a Somali-Dutch long-distance runner from the Netherlands. He won the silver medal in the marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Nageeye placed third at the 2022 New York City Marathon.
The 2018 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships took place on 24 March 2018 in Valencia, Spain. It was the 23rd edition of the event and the 2nd time it was held in Spain.
Letesenbet Gidey is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. In the 10,000 metres, she is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, 2019 World silver medallist, and 2022 World champion.
Eyob Faniel is an Eritrean-born Italian long-distance runner who won a silver medal at the 2018 Mediterranean Games. He is the national record holder in the marathon with a time of 2:07:19, set on 23 February 2020, at the 2020 Seville Marathon. He finished 20th at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in the Marathon.
Yassine Rachik is a Moroccan-born Italian long-distance runner who won the Italian Athletics Championships three times and also won an individual bronze medal at the 2018 European Athletics Championships.
Rhonex Kipruto is a Kenyan long-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships. Kipruto is the world record holder for the 10 km road race with a time of 26:24, set on 12 January 2020 in Valencia Spain. He also places third on the half marathon world all-time list.
Italy 
