This list is a chronological progression of record times for the marathon. World records in the marathon are now ratified by World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of athletics.
Bernard Kipchirchir Lagat is a Kenyan-American middle and long-distance runner.
Sir Charles Benedict Ainslie is a British competitive sailor. Ainslie is the most successful sailor in Olympic history. He won medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1996 onwards, including gold at the four consecutive Games held between 2000 and 2012.
INEOS Group Limited is a British multinational chemicals company headquartered and registered in London. As of 2021, it is the fourth largest chemical company in the world. Ineos is organised into about 20 standalone business units, each with its own board and operating almost entirely independently, although founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his associates sit on their boards occasionally.
The Prater is a large public park in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, Austria. The Wurstelprater, an amusement park that is often simply called "Prater", lies in one corner of the Wiener Prater and includes the Wiener Riesenrad Ferris wheel.
Augustine Kiprono Choge is a Kenyan middle distance and long distance runner.
Eliud Kipchoge is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly specialized at the 5000 metre distance. Regarded as the greatest marathon runner of all time, he is the 2016 and 2020 Olympic marathon champion and the world record holder in the marathon with a time of 2:01:09 set at the 2022 Berlin Marathon. He has run four of the six fastest marathons in history.
Sir James Arthur Ratcliffe is a British billionaire, chemical engineer and businessman. Ratcliffe is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the INEOS chemicals group, which he founded in 1998. The company is estimated to have had a turnover of $65 billion in 2021. He does not have a high public profile, and was once described by The Sunday Times as "publicity shy". In May 2018, Ratcliffe was the richest person in the UK, with a net worth of £21.05 billion. As of May 2023, the Sunday Times Rich List 2023 estimated his net worth at £29.688 billion, making him the second wealthiest figure in the UK. In September 2020, Ratcliffe officially changed his tax residence from Hampshire to Monaco, a move that it is estimated will save him £4 billion in tax.
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.
Jacob Kiplimo is a Ugandan long-distance runner. He is the world record holder for the half marathon, which he set on 21 November 2021 in Lisbon with a time of 57:31. He is also the 2020 Tokyo Olympic 10,000 metres bronze medallist and won bronze in the event at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. Kiplimo earned gold medals for the 5000 metres and 10,000 m at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. He is the 2020 World Half Marathon champion. He won silver and gold medal at the 2019 and 2023 World Cross Country Championships respectively.
Richard Antonio Carapaz Montenegro is an Ecuadorian professional road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam EF Education–EasyPost. Carapaz won the 2019 Giro d'Italia, becoming the first Ecuadorian rider to win the race. In July 2021, he won the gold medal in the road race at the 2020 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Ecuadorian cyclist to win a medal and only the second Ecuadorian in any sport to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. In doing so, he became the first cyclist to achieve an Olympic road race gold medal and a podium finish in each of the three Grand Tours.
Breaking2 was a project by Nike to break the two-hour barrier for the marathon. Nike announced the project in November 2016 and organized a team of three elite runners who trained for a private race. The event was held on the Formula One race track Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy on May 6, 2017.
Abraham Kiptum is a Kenyan long-distance runner and former half marathon world record holder. On 28 October 2018 Kiptum ran the Valencia Half Marathon in Valencia, Spain in a time of 58:18, which would have been a world record, but in 2019 this world record was nullified, because of a doping violation verdict in 2019. The half marathon world record was then improved by Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor on 15 September 2019, to a time of 58:01.
The men'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 5 October 2019. Even with the unusual timing, high temperatures were expected to provide difficult conditions for running, but in the end temperatures dropped to around 29 °C (84 °F) and 50% humidity. The race was won by Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia in 2 h 10 min 40 s, followed four seconds behind by his compatriot Mosinet Geremew. Amos Kipruto of Kenya was third in 2:10:51.
The Ineos 1:59 Challenge, held on 12 October 2019, was an attempt by Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge to break the two-hour mark for running the marathon distance, which he achieved in a time of 1:59:40.2. The event was specifically created for Kipchoge and held in Vienna, Austria. Kipchoge had previously attempted to run a two hour marathon at the Breaking2 event organised by Nike in 2017, but he fell short by 25 seconds. He then went on to run a world record marathon at the 2018 Berlin Marathon before British chemicals company Ineos announced the attempt in May 2019. 41 pacemakers, rotating in and out in groups of 7, assisted Kipchoge throughout the attempt. Due to these rotating pacemakers, along with other factors designed to assist the run, the achievement could not be ratified as a world record by the international athletics governing body World Athletics.
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.
Marius Kimutai is a Kenyan-born Bahraini long-distance runner.
Jack Rayner is an Australian long-distance runner. He qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. He ran in the men's marathon but failed to finish due to cramping in both his legs after running 500 meters.
Alex Korio is a Kenyan long-distance runner. In 2019, he competed in the men's 10,000 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships held in Doha, Qatar. He finished in 11th place.
