circuit, which includes the six top annual races. The competition format has separate men's and women's races, which both serve as a straight final. Participation typically numbers between sixty and eighty runners per race. The event usually starts and ends in the main stadium, with the rest of the race taking place on the surrounding roads of the host city.
The
championship records for the event are 2:06:54 hours for men, set by Abel Kirui in 2009, and 2:20:57 hours for women, set by Paula Radcliffe in 2005.[1] The world record has never been broken or equalled at the competition by either men or women, reflecting the lack of pacemaking and athletes' more tactical approach to championship races.[2]
Catherine Ndereba and Edna Kiplagat are the most successful athletes of the event, having each won two gold medals and one silver medal in the women's marathon. In addition, Kiplagat finished top five in five consecutive World Athletics Championship Marathons from 2011-2019. Three other athletes have won the World Championships marathon twice: Abel Antón, Jaouad Gharib, and Abel Kirui – all of whom along with Edna Kiplagat had back-to-back victories.
nb1Ayele Seteng of Israel was originally stated as the oldest competitor, but this was due to an administrative error on his passport, which lists his date of birth as understood under the Ethiopian calendar (showing some seven to eight years less than the Gregorian calendar).[3]
Doping
The first doping ban to effect the World Championships marathon came in 2001, when Italy's
Biological passport irregularities saw Abderrahim Goumri's runs in 2009 and 2011 retrospectively annulled.[5] The anti-doping programme at the 2013 championships saw Jeremías Saloj disqualified from the men's race for doping.[6]