Here are the world’s fastest marathon marathon runners.
The current marathon world records are held by Kelvin Kiptum (2:00:35) and Ruth Chepngetich (2:09:56).
The Fastest 20 Women’s Marathons Of All TimeThe 10 Fastest Women Marathoners Of All TimeThe Women’s Only Marathon World RecordThe Fastest 20 Men’s Marathons Of All TimeThe 10 Fastest Men Marathoners Of All Time
All results accurate as of 20 April December 2025.
The Fastest 20 Women’s Marathons Of All Time
These are the fastest 20 women’s marathons and includes multiple performances by runners. The 10 fastest women of all time are below.
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
These are the fastest 20 men’s marathons and includes multiple performances by runners. The 10 fastest men of all time are below.
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.
The 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.
