Marathon

Athletics Marathon
Competitors during the 2014 Orlen Warsaw Marathon
World records
Men	Kelvin Kiptum (KEN) 2:00:35 (2023)
Women	Mx:  Ruth Chepng'etich (KEN) 2:09:56 (2024) Wo:  Peres Jepchirchir (KEN) 2:16:16 (2024)
Olympic records
Men	Tamirat Tola (ETH) 2:06:26 (2024)
Women	Sifan Hassan (NED) 2:22:55 (2024)
World Championship records
Men	Tamirat Tola (ETH) 2:05:36 (2022)
Women	Gotytom Gebreslase (ETH) 2:18:11 (2022)

The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of 42.195 kilometres (c. 26 mi 385 yd),^[1] usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions. More than 800 marathons are held worldwide each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes, as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.^[2]

A creation of the French philologist Michel Bréal inspired by a story from Ancient Greece, the marathon was one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896 in Athens. The distance did not become standardized until 1921. The distance is also included in the World Athletics Championships, which began in 1983. It is the only running road race included in both championship competitions (walking races on the roads are also contested in both).