Marathon races were first held in 1896, but the distance was not standardized by the
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF, now World Athletics) until 1921. The actual distance for pre-1921 races frequently varied from the 1921 standard of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). In qualifying races for the
1896 Summer Olympics, Greek runners
Charilaos Vasilakos (3:18:00) and
Ioannis Lavrentis (3:11:27) won the first two modern marathons. On April 10, 1896,
Spiridon Louis of Greece won
the first Olympic marathon in Athens, Greece, in a time of 2:58:50. However, the distance for the event was 40,000 meters. Three months later, British runner
Len Hurst won the inaugural
Paris to Conflans Marathon (also around 40 km) in a time of 2:31:30. In 1900, Hurst would better his time on the same course with a 2:26:28 performance.{{refn|According to the "Sporting Records" section of
The Canadian Year Book for 1905: "Len Hurst won the Marathon race, 40 kilometres (24 miles, 1505 yards), over roads, Conflans to Paris, Fr., in the record time of 2.26:27 3–5, July 8, 1900." Other sources confirm that the direction of the 1900 race was reversed, but note Hurst's finishing time as 2:26:47.4. or 2:26:48. The first marathon over the official distance was won by American
Johnny Hayes at the
1908 Summer Olympics, with a time of 2:55:18.4. It is possible that
Stamata Revithi, who ran the 1896 Olympic course a day after Louis, is the first woman to run the modern marathon; she is said to have finished in hours. World Athletics credits
Violet Piercy's 1926 performance as the first woman to race the standard marathon distance; however, other sources report that the 1918 performance of
Marie-Louise Ledru in the Tour de Paris set the initial mark for women. Other "unofficial" performances have also been reported to be world bests or world records over time: although her performance is not recognized by World Athletics,
Adrienne Beames from Australia is frequently credited as the first woman to break the three-hour barrier in the marathon. In the 1953
Boston Marathon, the top three male finishers were thought to have broken the standing world record, but
Keizo Yamada's mark of 2:18:51 is considered to have been set on a short course of 25.54 miles (41.1 km). The
Boston Athletic Association also does not report Yamada's performance as a world best for this reason. On October 25, 1981, American
Alberto Salazar and New Zealander
Allison Roe set apparent world bests at the
1981 New York City Marathon (2:08:13 and 2:25:29), however, these marks were invalidated when the course was later found to have been 151 meters short. Although World Athletics' progression notes three performances set on the same course in 1978, 1979, and 1980 by Norwegian
Grete Waitz, the
Association of Road Racing Statisticians considers the New York City course suspect for those performances, too. On April 18, 2011, the Boston Marathon produced what were at that time the two fastest marathon performances in history. Winner
Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya recorded a time of 2:03:02, followed by countryman
Moses Mosop in 2:03:06. However, since the Boston course does not meet the criteria for record attempts (the starting line is too high relative to the finish), these times were not ratified by the IAAF. Eight IAAF world records were set at the
Polytechnic Marathon (1909, 1913, 1952–1954, 1963–1965). WA-recognized world records have been broken at all of the original five
World Marathon Majors on numerous occasions (updated 09/2022); twelve times at the
Berlin Marathon, three times at the Boston Marathon, five times at the
Chicago Marathon, six times at the
London Marathon, and five times at the New York City Marathon. However, the records established in the Boston event have been disputed on grounds of a downhill point-to-point course, while four of the five New York records have been disputed on grounds of a short course. On April 26, 2026,
Sabastian Sawe and
Yomif Kejelcha became the first individuals to run a record-eligible
marathon in under two hours, at the
2026 London Marathon. ==Criteria for record eligibility==