Athletics world records

Athletic world record” is broad, so here is an overview of track and field (athletics), including what has changed in 2026. Records set in 2026 Men’s marathon: Sabastian Sawe of Kenya ran 1:59:30 at the London Marathon on 26 April 2026. This is the first officially recognized sub-two-hour marathon. therunningchannel Women’s marathon: Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia ran 2:15:41 in London on the same day. worldathletics Pole vault: Mondo Duplantis cleared 6.31m in Uppsala on 12 March, one centimetre higher than his previous record. worldathletics Half marathon: Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda ran 57:20 in Lisbon on 8 March. therunningchannel Indoor heptathlon: Simon Ehammer scored 6670, breaking Ashton Eaton’s 2012 mark of 6645. worldathletics Mile: Josh Kerr ran 3:42.66 on 18 July, breaking Hicham El Guerrouj’s 3:43 record. citiusmag 110m hurdles: Ja’Kobe Tharp ran 12.75 on 10 June. citiusmag Other 2026 records: World Athletics also lists new marks from dos Santos (400m hurdles) and Masai Russell (100m hurdles). nbcsports Long-standing records 100m: Usain Bolt’s 9.58 from August 2009. athleticsweekly 200m: Bolt’s 19.19, also from 2009. athleticsweekly Women’s 100m: Florence Griffith Joyner’s 10.49 from 1988. athleticsweekly Women’s 200m: Griffith Joyner’s 21.34, also from 1988. athleticsweekly Many women’s records are old. Around ten date from the 1980s, though improved running shoes have helped break distance records recently. sprints and distance running world record: Here’s where the records stand as of late October 2026. Sprints Men 100m: Usain Bolt’s 9.58 (Berlin, 16 August 2009) bookmyspot 200m: Bolt’s 19.19, from the 2009 World Championships Wikipedia 400m: Wayde van Niekerk’s 43.03 (2016) Wikipedia Women 100m: Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 10.49 (Indianapolis, 1988) therunningchannel 200m: Griffith-Joyner’s 21.34, also from 1988 vehikl 400m: Marita Koch’s 47.60 (Canberra, 6 October 1985) worldathletics Bolt’s marks have survived another season. The fastest 100m of 2026 was Noah Lyles’ 9.79, and the fastest 200m was Kenny Bednarek’s 19.52. The women’s 400m record is now over 40 years old. Marileidy Paulino won the 2026 Ultimate Championship in 49.07, well off it. bookmyspot nbcsports Distance running Men 5000m: Joshua Cheptegei, 12:35.36 (Monaco, 2020) marathonhandbook 10,000m: Cheptegei, 26:11.00 (Valencia, 2020) Wikipedia Half marathon: Yomif Kejelcha, 56:51 at the Buenos Aires Half Marathon on 23 August 2026. Jacob Kiplimo’s 57:20 from Lisbon was never ratified before Kejelcha’s run. His 56:42 from Barcelona wasn’t recognised either, because of an unfair draft. Wikipedia therunningchannel Marathon: Sabastian Sawe, 1:59:30 at the 2026 London Marathon on 26 April. That made him the first man to officially run a marathon under two hours. therunningchannel marathonhandbook Women 5000m: Beatrice Chebet, 13:58.06 (Eugene, 2025) therunningchannel 10,000m: Chebet, 28:54.14 (Eugene, 2024) therunningchannel Half marathon: Letesenbet Gidey, 1:02:52 (Valencia, 2021) therunningchannel Marathon: Ruth Chepngetich, 2:09:56 (Chicago, 13 October 2024). She was suspended in July 2025 after a failed drug test, but her time was still listed as the record as of the most recent source I found, so that one could change. runhive therunningchannel Patterns Sprint records are old. Bolt’s, Griffith-Joyner’s and Koch’s marks are 17 to 41 years old and have resisted modern spikes and training. Distance records are falling fast. Sawe’s sub-2 and Kejelcha’s half marathon both came in 2026. Carbon-plated shoes, pacing and drafting strategy are the main reasons. Rules matter. Ratification depends on pacing and drafting conditions, as the Kiplimo case shows. Middle distance Outdoor records 800m: David Rudisha’s 1:40.91 (2012) for men, and Jarmila Kratochvílová’s 1:53.3 (1983) for women. Both are old, and Kratochvílová’s is one of the longest-standing records on the books. 1500m (men): Hicham El Guerrouj’s 3:26.00 from Rome in 1998. Mile: Josh Kerr of Great Britain holds the men’s record at 3:42.66 (London, 18 July 2026), and Faith Kipyegon of Kenya holds the women’s at 4:07.64 (Monaco, 2023). Kerr’s run is the biggest middle-distance news of the year, and it ended a record that had stood since the 1990s. Wikipedia 3000m (men): Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s 7:17.55 (2024). 2026 so far. Josh Hoey ran 1:42.50 for 800m, a new indoor world record. Several junior records also fell, including Cooper Lutkenhaus’ 1:45.23 U20 indoor 800m and Saron Berhe’s 4:01.23 U20 indoor 1500m. Cameron Myers of Australia also set an Oceania 1500m record of 3:28.00. The 800m is the most tactical of these events. All runners converge into one lane after the first bend, so pack position matters a great deal. The sub-two marathon The background. Eliud Kipchoge ran 1:59:40 in the 2019 Ineos exhibition, but that doesn’t count as a record. The conditions weren’t record-eligible, and the benchmark stayed out of reach until this April. The race (London, 26 April 2026). Sawe’s preparation: Sabastian Sawe had a stress fracture in his foot and a back injury that disrupted training in December and January. He got back to full training in February and peaked at 150 miles in a week. Substack First half: The lead group hit 5km in 14:14, which is 2:00:03 pace. The early running was controlled but ambitious. worldathletics Final stage: The real racing began just after 25K when the final pacemaker stepped off, and Sawe went immediately. Per CITIUS, his 5K splits from 30K onward were 13:54, then 13:42, with the last 2.2K in 5:51. Substack The mile: His 24th mile took 4:12, the fastest single mile ever run in a marathon. Substack Result: He finished in 1:59:30, 65 seconds faster than Kelvin Kiptum’s previous record from Chicago in 2023. His second half of 59:01 was the fastest in marathon history. worldathletics citiusmag The nuances The second finisher: Yomif Kejelcha also broke two hours in his marathon debut, running 1:59:41. Two men under two hours on the same day is striking. Wikipedia Sawe’s improvement: He improved his personal record by three minutes. His previous best was 2:02:05, from his Valencia debut. Wikipedia The course: London finishes a few miles west of where it starts, and the wind came out of the east for most of the race. The course is also net downhill by 112 feet, worth roughly 20 seconds. The course drop has always been there, and the wind probably wasn’t a big factor. letsrun The women’s race: Tigst Assefa set a world record for a women-only marathon. Wikipedia Ratification: One source describes the time as a world record pending ratification. That matches the asterisk on World Athletics’ own report. brabners The shoe debate What the shoes do. Super shoes combine carbon fiber plates with thick foam soles. The consensus is that the foam does most of the work. As one explainer puts it, the plate adds structure and keeps the soft foam from collapsing, but the foam does the heavy lifting. Wikipedia achillesheel The rules. World Athletics stepped in in January 2020. It limited sole thickness to 40mm, banned shoes with more than one rigid plate, and required shoes to be available for retail purchase at least a month before competition. The rules were then revised in 2022. achillesheel What’s different in 2026 The shoe: Both London winners wore Adidas’ newly launched Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3. LetsRun noted it weighs just 3.4 ounces, and framed the question as whether it tipped the scales. As Sportico put it, Nike marketed the sub-2 and Adidas delivered it. brabners The enforcement question: Athletics Illustrated argued that World Athletics didn’t follow its own rules around the Adidas shoe, and that unclear enforcement would undermine competition’s integrity. The retail-availability requirement is the likely sticking point, since the shoe has had only limited runs through 2026, with a broader commercial release lined up around the Berlin Marathon in September. achillesheel Coe’s position: World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said the organisation will not “strangle innovation”. athleticsillustrated The two sides Critics say performance can now be bought, and some call it “tech doping”. Estimates of the benefit vary, with early claims of around 4% and some scientists suggesting up to 10%. Defenders point out that shoes are legal, widely available, and that every elite runner has access to similar technology. They also note that super shoes are now everywhere. By 2026, 64% of Chicago Marathon runners wore carbon-plated shoes, as did 62% in New York. achillesheel A middle view is that a ratified record needs both clear rules and consistent enforcement, so that credit goes to the athlete rather than the product.