Who is the greatest marathon runner of all time?

By YPB Team

The marathon has crowned legends from Bikila's barefoot gold to Kipchoge's sub-two-hour barrier break. Vote for the greatest 26.2-mile hero of all time.

Eliud Kipchoge

Kenyan legend widely considered the greatest marathoner ever, holder of the official world record (2:01:09) and the first human to run a marathon in under two hours.

Haile Gebrselassie

Ethiopian running icon and two-time Olympic champion over 10,000m who dominated the marathon in the 2000s, setting two world records in Berlin.

Paula Radcliffe

British distance runner who set the women's marathon world record of 2:15:25 in 2003, a mark that stood for 16 years and remains one of athletics' most dominant performances.

Abebe Bikila

Ethiopian pioneer who won gold at the 1960 Rome Olympics running barefoot, becoming the first sub-Saharan African Olympic champion and winning again at Tokyo 1964.

Kelvin Kiptum

Kenyan prodigy who shattered the marathon world record in Chicago 2023 with a stunning 2:00:35, tragically killed in a road accident in 2024 at just 24 years old.

Ruth Chepngetich

Kenyan champion who became the first woman to run a marathon under 2:10, clocking 2:09:56 in Chicago in 2024 to set a stunning new world record.

Kenenisa Bekele

Ethiopian triple Olympic champion on the track who transferred his brilliance to the roads, recording a personal best of 2:01:41 and winning Berlin and London multiple times.

Brigid Kosgei

Kenyan powerhouse who broke Paula Radcliffe's 16-year-old women's record with a 2:14:04 in Chicago 2019 and is a two-time London and Chicago Marathon champion.

Grete Waitz

Norwegian legend who won the New York City Marathon nine times between 1978 and 1988 and was pivotal in opening the Olympic marathon to women at Los Angeles 1984.

Joan Benoit Samuelson

American runner who won the inaugural women's Olympic marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, cementing her place in athletics history.

Rosa Mota

Portuguese champion who dominated women's marathoning in the 1980s, winning three consecutive Boston Marathons and Olympic gold at Seoul 1988.

Frank Shorter

American runner whose gold medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics sparked the running boom in the United States, inspiring millions to take up the sport.

Meb Keflezighi

Eritrean-American icon who won the 2004 Olympic silver medal, the 2009 New York and the 2014 Boston Marathons — the first American man to win Boston in 31 years.

Catherine Ndereba

Kenyan four-time Boston Marathon champion nicknamed 'Catherine the Great', who also won two World Championship marathon titles and an Olympic silver medal.

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