The World’s Fastest Marathon Times

The first official marathon was run at the 1896 Athens Olympic Games, won by Spyridon Louis in a time of 2:58:50, though it was on a course that was only 40km, not the now-standard 42.2km or 26.2 miles. 

Women weren’t allowed to run in that race, though it didn’t stop Stamatis Rovithi who ran alongside the men and finishing (without an official time) a few hours after Louis. The first woman to have her marathon officially ratified as a world record was Scottish runner Dale Grieg, who in 1964 finished the Isle of Wight Marathon in 3:27:45.

Marathon times have tumbled since those early records. The current marathon world records are held by Kelvin Kiptum (2:00:35) and Tigst Assefa (2:11:53). Here are the top 20 fastest marathons of all time registered on record-eligible courses. 

All results accurate as of 21 April 2024. 

The Fastest Women’s Marathons Of All Time 

All data from World Athletics

Women’s Only World Record

As well as the overall women’s marathon world record, World Athletics recognises a ‘Women’s Only’ world record which qualifies when a race has a separate start for women, and is run without male competitors or male pacers. The London Marathon is a course which qualifies for a women’s only record. The women’s only world record is 2:16:16 run by Peres Jepchirchir at the 2024 London Marathon.

The Fastest Men’s Marathons Of All Time 

All data from World Athletics

Unofficial Records & World Bests 

Eliud Kipchoge became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours with his 1:59:40, but it wasn’t considered a world record because of the particular conditions of the run: it had rotating pacers, drinks were handed to him, and it was effectively a time trial and not a race.

Boston Marathon is also not a record-eligible course because it’s a point-to-point course with too much net downhill. According to World Athletics rules, ‘the start and finish points on the course, measured along a straight line between them, shall not be further apart than 50% of the race distance.’ Any fast time run at Boston can count as a ‘world best’ but not a world record, as happened to Geoffrey Mutai at the 2011 Boston Marathon, where a strong tailwind assisted a then-best 2:03:02. 

Lead image ©SCC EVENTS/Jean-Marc Wiesner