Fastest Marathon Times of All Time
Key Findings
About This Dataset
Fastest Marathon Times of All TimeThe data reveals a striking dominance by Eliud Kipchoge, who not only holds the current world record but also occupies three of the top four fastest marathon times. His closest competitor, Dennis Kimetto, trails significantly with a time of 2:02:57, illustrating a substantial gap of over two minutes between the leaders and the rest. The emergence of Kelvin Kiptum as a co-holder of the world record in 2023 indicates a potential shift in the elite marathon landscape, suggesting that the sub-2 hour mark, while still elusive in official terms, may soon be challenged again. The trend of progressively faster times reflects advancements in training, nutrition, and technology in the sport.
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- Wikipedia
- Coverage
- 6 entities · 2008–2023 (7 years) · 8 observations
- Measures
- Marathon Time (h:mm:ss) · Marathon World Record (h:mm:ss)
- Last updated
- 6 September 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
- Values use the measure and unit named on this page. Consult the dataset description and cited source for coverage, definitions and any unit conversions. Displayed values may be rounded for readability.
- Missing years are left empty rather than estimated — no interpolation, no carrying a previous year forward.
- Change is measured between the first and last year in which an entity actually reported a value, so a series that starts late is not penalised for the years before it existed.
- The compound annual rate is (last ÷ first)^(1 ÷ years) − 1, using those same two reported years.
- Entities are ranked lowest-first, because on this measure a lower number is the better result.
- An entity that reported nothing in the latest year is still listed — it follows the ranked entities in the table rather than being dropped.
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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