Fastest Marathon Time: World Records + Top Runners

The fastest marathon time ever run is 1:59:30, set by Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe at the 2026 London Marathon — the first time in history anyone has run a marathon under two hours in an official, record-eligible race. The fastest time ever run by a woman is Ruth Chepngetich’s 2:09:56, from the 2024 Chicago Marathon. Below, we break down the current men’s and women’s world records, the women-only record, the fastest time on each major course, and the full progression of marathon world records over the years.

The marathon has a rich and storied past, and there’s always something gratifying about learning the history and evolution of an event; it connects you more to the sport. Learning about the progression of the marathon world records is particularly exciting.

So, the fastest marathon time ever? Well, that depends on how you define it. Is it a ratified world record, an unofficial course record, or a standout performance on one of the major marathon courses? Each has its own context and significance.

In this guide, we’ll explore the progression of marathon records, looking at the differences between official world records, course-specific records, and iconic unofficial times. Join us as we examine how the fastest marathon performances have evolved over the years and across the globe.

How Do You Set a Marathon World Record?

Like other sanctioned race distances, marathon world records must be ratified by World Athletics, the international governing body for running and “athletics” in general.

Certain eligibility criteria must be satisfied for any marathon performance to be ratified as a world record. 

Examples of some of the criteria for a race performance to count as a marathon world record include the following:

• The time must be faster than the current marathon world record.
• The marathon course has to be the official distance of 42.195 km (this works out to an unofficial distance of 26.219 miles) long, as measured using a specific protocol with a calibrated bicycle.
• The performance must occur at an open, official, sanctioned race.
• If connected by a straight line, the starting line and finish line cannot be more than 50% of the race distance (13.1 miles) apart.
• The net downhill of the marathon course cannot be more than an average of 1 m/km of the race, so essentially, the elevation of the finish line cannot be more than 42 meters lower than the starting line.

Other eligibility criteria include wind speed for a tailwind, the use of pace cars and pacers, and the assistance that athletes receive during a race (for example, they have to pick up their own fluids rather than be handed them).

What Is the Marathon World Record for Men?

Before we look at how far we’ve come, let’s see where we are now. What is the current marathon world record?

Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe set the men’s world record on April 26, 2026, at the London Marathon, running a staggering 1:59:30 to become the first athlete in history to break two hours in an official, record-eligible marathon. He took 1 minute and 5 seconds off the late Kelvin Kiptum’s previous record of 2:00:35, set in Chicago in 2023.

It was an extraordinary day of racing. Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha also dipped under two hours, finishing second in 1:59:41, while Jacob Kiplimo took third in 2:00:28. Sawe reached halfway in 60:29 and then ran the fastest second half in marathon history — 59:01 — surging clear after the final pacemaker stepped off near 25K.

Sawe’s world record equates to an average pace of roughly 4:33 min/mile, or 2:50 min/kilometer, sustained over the entire 26.2-mile distance.

What Is the Marathon World Record for Women?

The women’s marathon world record isn’t as clear-cut as the men’s marathon world record because the IAAF recognizes two world records for women—one from mixed-gender races and one from women-only races.

The rationale behind this distinction is that in a mixed-gender race, women theoretically have the advantage of having male competitors surrounding them to work with, conceivably helping to pull them along to a faster time, whereas, in a women’s-only race, the leaders are on their own.

Therefore, in most cases, a winning time for the fastest woman in a mixed-gender race will be faster than a winning time in a women’s-only race, though, of course, there can be exceptions to this trend.

Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich holds the women’s world record with 2:09:56, set at the 2024 Chicago Marathon on October 13, 2024, where she became the first woman ever to break the 2:10 barrier. Competing in a mixed-sex race, she took more than a minute and a half off the previous mark.

That record still stands, though it is not without controversy. In October 2025, Chepngetich accepted a three-year doping ban after testing positive for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide in a sample collected in March 2025. Because the positive test came months after her Chicago run, World Athletics confirmed that the 2:09:56 world record remains official. She is eligible to compete again in 2028.

The current “women-only” world record belongs to Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa, who ran 2:15:41 at the 2026 London Marathon on April 26, 2026. Assefa shaved nine seconds off her own women-only record of 2:15:50 (set at London in 2025) in a race where three women ducked under 2:16 for the first time in history.

Progression Of The World Records

Although the first marathon was held in 1896, the distance was approximately 25 miles. The official marathon distance was not standardized by the IAAF until 1921, so marathons prior to that year were often a bit shorter than 42.125 kilometers.

As per Top End Sports, the progression of the men’s marathon world record times, as recognized by the IAAF and/or the Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS), occurred as follows:

According to Wikipedia, the progression of the IAAF marathon world record for women is as follows:

What Is the Fastest Boston Marathon Time?

According to the criteria established by the IAAF, a marathon performance must be ratified as a world record in order for it to be considered a world record. Even the fastest Boston Marathon times will never be considered a world record.

The fastest Boston Marathon time ever run is 2:01:52, set by Kenya’s John Korir when he won the 2026 Boston Marathon. It was a course record and one of the fastest marathons in history — yet even this cannot count as a world record.

That is because Boston’s point-to-point layout and net elevation drop fall outside World Athletics’ record criteria. For years the benchmark here was Geoffrey Mutai’s 2:03:02 from 2011, which the IAAF famously labelled “the fastest marathon ever run” rather than a world record, for exactly these reasons.

On the women’s side, the fastest Boston time is 2:17:22, set by Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi in 2025, eclipsing the long-standing 2:19:59 run by Ethiopia’s Buzunesh Deba in 2014.

The fastest marathon times for all six Abbott World Marathon Majors are as follows: 

What Is the Fastest Marathon Time Ever?

For years, the fastest marathon ever run was an unofficial one. Eliud Kipchoge clocked 2:00:25 at Nike’s Breaking2 project in 2017, then ran 1:59:40 at the Ineos 1:59 Challenge in Vienna on October 12, 2019 — becoming the first human to cover 26.2 miles in under two hours. Neither counted as a world record, because they relied on rotating pacers, a pace car and other assistance not permitted in an open race.

That changed on April 26, 2026, when Sabastian Sawe ran 1:59:30 at the London Marathon. For the first time, the fastest marathon ever run in legal conditions and the official world record are one and the same — and Sawe’s mark is actually quicker than Kipchoge’s famous Vienna exhibition. The two-hour barrier, long compared to the four-minute mile, has finally fallen in a real race.

So what comes next? The question is no longer whether a marathon can be run under two hours, but how much faster it can go — and whether the women’s world record can keep closing the gap in its own new era. What do you think the official world records for men and women will be ten years from now?

By now, you must be bursting with inspiration and motivation to break your marathon PR! Check out our database of marathon training plans and let us help you get there: