AthleticsAthletics world record

Marathon, women

Record

2 h 09 min 56.00 s

Holder
Ruth Chepng'etich
Date
Place
Chicago
Standing since
2024 (2 years)

How the record evolved

Chart of the Marathon, women record, from 1918 to 2024 1918 2026 5 h 40 min 2 h 09 min 56.00 s

The last record set in each decade, up to the current record (highlighted).

YearRecordHolder
2 h 09 min 56.00 sRuth Chepng'etich
2 h 14 min 04 sBrigid Kosgei
2 h 17 min 42 sPaula Radcliffe
2 h 20 min 43 sTegla Loroupe
2 h 21 min 06 sIngrid Kristiansen
2 h 27 min 32.6 sGrete Waitz
3 h 07 min 27.2 sAnni Pede-Erdkamp
3 h 40 min 22 sViolet Piercy
5 h 40 minMarie-Louise Ledru

Put them in order

Sort these records from the oldest to the most recent.

  1. 2 h 20 min 43 sTegla Loroupe
  2. 2 h 27 min 32.6 sGrete Waitz
  3. 5 h 40 minMarie-Louise Ledru
  4. 2 h 09 min 56.00 sRuth Chepng'etich

What to remember

On October 13, 2024, at the Chicago Marathon, Kenya's Ruth Chepng'etich covered the 42.195 kilometres in 2 h 09 min 56 s. It was a clear improvement on Brigid Kosgei's mark from 2019. Her pace averaged 19.485 km/h from start to finish.

The marathon was created for the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens by the French philologist Michel Bréal, inspired by a story from Ancient Greece. The distance only became standardized in 1921. For women, the first mark kept here is that of Marie-Louise Ledru in 1918, in 5 h 40 min. Violet Piercy ran 3 h 40 min 22 s in 1926, Grete Waitz 2 h 27 min 32.6 s in 1979, Paula Radcliffe 2 h 17 min 42 s in 2005 and Kosgei 2 h 14 min 04 s in 2019. Over 106 years the time was cut by a factor of 2.62.

Born on August 8, 1994, Chepng'etich is a Kenyan long-distance runner. She won the marathon at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, and in 2021 she ran her fastest half marathon in Istanbul.

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