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.
The Tokyo International Marathon was a marathon for male elite runners held in Tokyo, Japan, from 1980 until 2006.
Ekiden (駅伝) is a long-distance running multi-stage relay race, mostly held on roads.
The Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship was an IAAF Gold Label international men's marathon race held in Fukuoka, Japan since 1947. It was usually held on the first Sunday in December, and had its 75th and final race in 2021.
Eliud Kipchoge is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly specialized at the 5000 metre distance. Widely 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 out of the five fastest marathon times in history.
The Beijing Marathon is an annual marathon race held around October in Beijing, People's Republic of China, since 1981. The race begins at Tiananmen Square and finishes in Celebration Square in Beijing's Olympic Park. The full marathon is the only distance offered.
The World Athletics Half Marathon Championships is a biennial international half marathon competition organised by World Athletics. The competition was launched as the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 1992 and held annually until 2010. It was renamed the IAAF World Road Running Championships in 2006 and reduced in distance to a 20K run, but reverted to the half marathon distance the following year and to the original competition name the year after that. The competition was renamed to its current title in 2020 after the governing body rebranded itself moving away from the long-standing International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) moniker.
Yoshimi Ozaki is a Japanese long-distance runner, who specializes in the marathon. She won the 2008 Tokyo Women's Marathon in a personal best time of 2:23:30 hours. A year later she took the silver medal in the event at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.
The Yokohama Women's Marathon was a marathon held in Yokohama, Japan, and hosted by Japan Association of Athletics Federations, TV Asahi, the Asahi Shimbun. It is one of the major Japanese women's marathon races which is used to decide selection for the Olympics, along with the Nagoya Marathon and Osaka International Ladies Marathon.
Lisa Jane Weightman is an Australian long distance runner and four time Olympian who specializes in the marathon event. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics she came 26th in the Women's marathon with a time of 2:34.19, 7 minutes behind the eventual winner, Peres Jepchirchir.
The Nagano Olympic Commemorative Marathon is an annual marathon road race which takes place in mid-April in Nagano, Japan. It is an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race competition. The Nagano Marathon has races for both elite and amateur runners. It is named in honour of the 1998 Winter Olympics which were held in Nagano.
Jacqueline Hansen is a former long-distance runner from the United States who is recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as having set a world best in the marathon on two occasions.
The Sapporo International Half Marathon was an annual road running competition over the half marathon distance 21.0975 kilometres (13.1094 mi) which took place each July in Sapporo, Japan.
The Seoul International Marathon, also known as the Dong-A Ilbo Seoul Marathon or Seoul Marathon is an annual marathon race that takes place in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of two annual races over the 42.195 km classic distance in the city, alongside the JoongAng Seoul Marathon which is held in November. It holds World Athletics Platinum Label Road Race status. First held in 1931, it is the third longest-running road running competition in Asia after the Hakone Ekiden and Chugoku Yamaguchi Ekiden in Japan.
In India, the sport of athletics was introduced during the period of the British Raj. The sport is governed at national level by the Athletics Federation of India, which was formed in 1946. Despite its large population, few Indian athletes have won a medal in a global or major championship. This began to change in the 21st century, when Indians started taking greater interest in athletics more generally and improved facilities for the sport began to be built at a local level. At a continental level, it has been among the more successful Asian nations, though some distance behind China and Japan.
Minori Hayakari (早狩実紀) is a Japanese track and field athlete who specialises in the 3000 metres steeplechase. Her personal best of 9:33.93 minutes is the Japanese record and she has won straight Japanese national titles since the first event in 2005, taking her sixth title in 2011.
The marathon at the Summer Olympics is the only road running event held at the multi-sport event. The men's marathon has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1896. Nearly ninety years later, the women's event was added to the programme at the 1984 Olympics.
The 2015 Tokyo Marathon was the ninth edition of the annual marathon race in Tokyo, Japan and was held on Sunday, 22 February. An IAAF Gold Label Road Race, it was the first World Marathon Majors event to be held that year and represented the third occasion that the Tokyo race was part of the elite-level marathon series.
The Saitama International Marathon is a women's marathon held in Saitama, Japan, and hosted by Japan Association of Athletics Federations, Saitama Prefecture, Saitama City, Nippon Television Network and the Yomiuri Shimbun. The event is an IAAF Silver Label Road Race.
The 2018 Tokyo Marathon was the twelfth edition of the annual marathon race in Tokyo and was held on Sunday, 25 February. An IAAF Gold Label Road Race, it was the first World Marathon Majors event to be held that year. The men's race was won by Dickson Chumba in 2:05:30 hours while the women's race was won by Birhane Dibaba in 2:19:51. The men's runner-up Yuta Shitara set a Japanese national record time of 2:06:11 hours. This was also an Asian record. The host nation featured prominently in the men's race, with two runners in the top five and six of the top ten being Japanese. The Japanese women fared less well, with sixth-place Hiroko Yoshitomi being the best national performer.
