# Who is the greatest marathon runner of all time?

> 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.

*By YPB Team · Published April 21, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/who-is-the-greatest-marathon-runner-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **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.
2. **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.
3. **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.
4. **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.
5. **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.
6. **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.
7. **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.
8. **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.
9. **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.
10. **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.
11. **Rosa Mota**
   Portuguese champion who dominated women's marathoning in the 1980s, winning three consecutive Boston Marathons and Olympic gold at Seoul 1988.
12. **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.
13. **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.
14. **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.

Tags: historical-figures, sports, women, olympics, fitness, running, marathon