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Introduced into the Olympics in 1896, The World Championships in 1983, The European Championships 1934 and The Commonwealth Games in 1930.
The classic distance of (26 miles 385 yards was first run in the Olympics of London 1908 so that the race finished in front of the royal box.
In 1896 it was run over 40 km, 1900 40.26 km, 1904 40.233 km, 1906 41.86 km, 1912 40 km and 1920 42.75 km. In the European Championship of 1946 it was run over a short course of 40.1 km.
The record times for the championships are listed below along with the World record progression.
There were no official IAAF records of the Marathon, as the IAAF did not recognise running records not made on a track until 01.01.2003 when they accepted them as a WBT and then on the 01.01.2004 as official world records.
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| Samuel Kamau Wanjiru | 2.06.32 |  | 24-8-2008 | Beijing |
| Abel Kirui | 2.06.54 |  | 22-8-2009 | Berlin |
| Martin Fiz | 2.10.31 |  | 14-8-1994 | Helsinki |
| Ian Thompson | 2.09.12 |  | 31-1-1974 | Christchurch |
