The marathon at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. It is the second most prestigious global title in the discipline after the marathon at the Olympics. From 1997 to 2011 it hosted the World Marathon Cup team event. It currently forms part of the World Marathon Majors circuit, which includes the six top annual races. The competition format has separate men's and women's races, which both serve as a straight final. Participation typically numbers between sixty and eighty runners per race. The event usually starts and ends in the main stadium, with the rest of the race taking place on the surrounding roads of the host city.

The championship records for the event are 2:06:54 hours for men, set by Abel Kirui in 2009, and 2:20:57 hours for women, set by Paula Radcliffe in 2005.Championships Records. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-07-12. The world record has never been broken or equalled at the competition by either men or women, reflecting the lack of pacemaking and athletes' more tactical approach to championship races.IAAF World Championships: IAAF Statistics Handbook Daegu 2011, pp. 595–6 (archived). IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-07-06.

Catherine Ndereba and Edna Kiplagat are the most successful athletes of the event, having each won two gold medals and one silver medal in the women's marathon. In addition, Kiplagat finished top five in five consecutive World Athletics Championship Marathons from 2011-2019. Three other athletes have won the World Championships marathon twice: Abel Antón, Jaouad Gharib, and Abel Kirui – all of whom along with Edna Kiplagat had back-to-back victories.

Kenya is the most successful nation in the discipline, having won ten gold medals overall (five in each division). Ethiopia is the next most successful, with six gold medallists. Spain has won three gold medals.

Age records

All information from World Athletics.

DistinctionMaleFemaleAthleteAgeDateAthleteAgeDateYoungest champion19 years, 281 days22 Aug 201520 years, 251 days23 Aug 2009Youngest medalist19 years, 281 days22 Aug 201520 years, 251 days23 Aug 2009Youngest finalist19 years, 281 days22 Aug 201520 years, 154 days10 Aug 2013Youngest participant18 years, 187 days3 Aug 200114 years, 274 days15 Aug 1993Oldest champion36 years, 308 days28 Aug 199935 years, 43 days2 Sep 2007Oldest medalist36 years, 308 days28 Aug 199939 years, 46 days28 Sep 2019Oldest finalist41 years, 14 days22 Aug 201541 years, 267 days28 Sep 2019Oldest participant46 years, 85 days5 Aug 199547 years, 136 days27 Aug 2011 Patrick Dupouy of French Polynesia became the oldest male competitor of World Championships history in 2007, at the age of 46 years and 85 days. Under current regulations, the records for the youngest participants will remain indefinitely as any athlete in the junior category (under-20) that year, or younger, is ineligible to enter the marathon.Technical Regulations for the IAAF World Championships (Updated January 2015). IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-08-16.

Doping The first doping ban to effect the World Championships marathon came in 2001, when Italy's Roberto Barbi (60th in the men's race) was disqualified. Original eighth-placer Nailiya Yulamanova was disqualified from the 2009 women's race and another Russian, Mikhail Lemayev, had his result annulled from the men's race that year. Biological passport irregularities saw Abderrahim Goumri's runs in 2009 and 2011 retrospectively annulled. The anti-doping programme at the 2013 championships saw Jeremías Saloj disqualified from the men's race for doping.More than 1900 blood samples collected – Moscow 2013. IAAF (2013-09-20). Retrieved on 2015-08-16.

Medalists Men

Multiple medalists Rank Athlete Nation PeriodGoldSilverBronze Total 1 1997–1999 2 0 0 2 2003–2005 2 0 0 2 2009–2011 2 0 0 2 4 1995–1997 1 1 0 2 2013-2019 1 1 0 2 2017-2022 1 1 0 2 7 1987–1991 0 2 0 2 2019–2022 0 2 0 2 9 2001–2003 0 0 2 2

Medalists by country Rank NationGoldSilverBronze Total 1 5 3 1 92 3 6 4 13332054 2 0 0 22002611127 1 0 2 38 1 0 1 2 1 0 1 210 1 0 0 111 0 2 0 212 0 1 4 5130101 0 1 0 101010101010118 0 0 1 10011001100110011

Women

Multiple medalists Rank Athlete Nation PeriodGoldSilverBronze Total1 2003–2007 2 1 0 3 2011–2017 2 1 0 3 3 1993–1997 1 2 0 3 4 1997–2001 1 0 2 3 5 2001–2007 0 1 1 2

Medalists by country Rank NationGoldSilverBronze Total 1 16 5 1 2223214 3 2 15 14 31 4 2 2 0 4 5 1 1 3 561113 7 1 1 0 28 1 0 0 1 10011001100112 01010101010115 0 0 1 2001100110011 0 0 1 10011

Championship record progression Men + Men's marathon World Championships record progressionMain > Men, marathon > World Championships Records Progression. Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2015-07-07.TimeAthleteNationYearRoundDate 2:10:03 1983 Final 14 August 2:08:31 2003 Final 30 August 2:06:54 2009 Final 22 August 2:05:36 2022 Final 17 July

Women + Women's marathon World Championships record progressionMain > Women, marathon > World Championships Records Progression. Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2015-07-07.TimeAthleteNationYearRoundDate 2:28:08 1983 Final 7 August 2:25:17 1987 Final 29 August 2:23:55 2003 Final 31 August 2:20:57 2005 Final 14 August2:18.11Gotytom Gebreslase2022Final18 July

Finishing times Top ten fastest World Championship times

+ Fastest men's times at the World ChampionshipsRankTime (sec)AthleteNationYearDate 1 2:05.36 Tamirat Tola 2022 2022-07-17 2 2:06.44 Mosinet Geremew 2022 2022-07-17 3 2:06.48 Bashir Abdi 2022 2022-07-17 4 2:06.54 Abel Kirui 2009 2009-08-22 5 2:07.09 Cameron Levins 2022 2022-07-17 6 2:07.14 Geoffrey Kamworor 2022 2022-07-17 7 2:07.17 Seifu Tura 2022 2022-07-17 8 2:07.31 Gabriel Geay 2022 2022-07-17 9 2:07.35 Daniel Ferreira do Nascimento 2022 2022-07-17 10 2:07.38 Abel Kirui 2011 2011-09-04

+ Fastest women's times at the World ChampionshipsRankTime (sec)AthleteNationYearDate 1 2:18.11 Gotytom Gebreslase 2022 2022-07-18 2 2:18.20 Judith Korir 2022 2022-07-18 3 2:20.18 Lonah Chemtai Salpeter 2022 2022-07-18 4 2:20.29 Nazret Weldu 2022 2022-07-18 5 2:20.57 Paula Radcliffe 2005 2005-08-14 6 2:22.01 Catherine Ndereba 2005 2005-08-14 7 2:22.10 Sara Hall 2022 2022-07-18 8 2:22.15 Angela Tanui 2022 2022-07-18 9 2:23.18 Emma Bates 2022 2022-07-18 10 2:23.19 Constantina Diță 2005 2005-08-14

References

Bibliography

External links Official IAAF website