Olympic Games Running Records

What are the Olympic Records in the main running races? We look at the fastest times run in the Olympics over 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 10,000m and the marathon, and compare them to the World Records in the same events. 

HOW DO THE OLYMPIC AND WORLD RECORDS COMPARE?

We’ve listed the Olympic Record and the World Record for all the events below. It’s only in the women’s 200m and the men’s 400m and 800m that the World Record was run at the Olympic Games. 

One reason is that the Olympics are only every four years, and can come with additional pressure on performance, while in middle-, long-distance and marathon races the events tend to be more tactical at the Olympics compared to regular season meets, with runners not wanting to blast ahead and burn up, preferring to pace it better to win medals over breaking records. The weather at summer games can also be a factor in faster times.

All details on all major running World Records can be found here. Or you can see the top 20 men and women marathon times here. 

WOMEN’S OLYMPIC RECORDS

MEN’S OLYMPIC RECORDS

Image ©Paris 2024 / Laurent Coust