Athletes [Ref.] | Personal bests (min) | International merits |
---|---|---|
Said Aouita ♂ [39] | 5000 m 12:58.39 (WR)—mile 3:46.76 | Olympic gold 1984, WC gold 1987 |
Stefano Baldini ♂ [69] | Marathon 2:07:22—Half marathon 1:00:50 | Olympic gold 2004, EC gold 1998 and 2006 |
Dieter Baumann ♂ [40] | 5000 m 12:54.70–3000 m 7:30.50 | Olympic gold 1992, EC gold 1994 |
Kenenisa Bekele ♂ [81] | 5000 m 12:37.35 (WR)—10,000 m 26:17.53 (WR) | 3× Olympic gold and 5× WC gold 2003–2009 |
Joan Benoit ♀ [97] | Marathon 2:21:21—Half marathon 1:08:34 | Olympic gold 1984 |
Gelindo Bordin ♂ [70] | Marathon 2:10:32—Half marathon 1:03:16 | Olympic gold 1988, EC gold 1986 and 1990 |
Robert de Castella ♂ [82] | Marathon 2:07:51 (WR) | WC gold 1983 |
Joshua Cheptegei ♂ [41] | 5000 m 12:35.36 (WR)—10,000 m 26:11.00 (WR) | Olympic gold and silver 2021, WC gold 2019 |
Stephen Cherono ♂ [60] | 5000 m 12:48.81—3000 m SC 7:53.63 (WR) | WC gold 2003 and 2005 |
Constantina Diță ♀ [83] | Marathon 2:21:30—Half marathon 1:08:10 | Olympic gold 2008, WC bronze 2005 |
Brendan Foster ♂ [62] | 5000 m 13:14.6—10,000 m 27:30.3 | Olympic bronze 1976, EC gold 1974 |
Haile Gebrselassie ♂ [42] | 5000 m 12:39.36 (WR)—10,000 m 26:22.75 (WR) | 2× Olympic gold and 4× WC gold 1995–2000 |
Sifan Hassan ♀ [49] | 1500 m 3:51.95—10,000 m 29:36.67 | 2× Olympic gold 2021, 2× WC gold 2019 |
Takayuki Inubushi ♂ [71] | Marathon 2:06:57 | Former Asian record holder in the marathon |
Joyciline Jepkosgei ♀ [85] | Marathon 2:18:40—Half marathon 1:04:51 (WR) | WC silver 2018 and winner of New York marathon 2019 |
Steve Jones ♂ [80] | Marathon 2:07:13 (WR) | Winner of London and New York marathon in the 1980s |
Deena Kastor ♀ [87] | Marathon 2:19:36—Half marathon 1:07:34 | Olympic bronze 2004 |
Meb Keflezighi ♂ [78] | Marathon 2:09:08—10,000 m 27:13.98 | Olympic silver 2004 |
Kip Keino ♂ [61] | 5000 m 13:24.2—3000 m 7:39.6 | 2× Olympic gold and 2× Olympic silver 1968–1972 |
Bob Kennedy ♂ [43] | 5000 m 12:58.21—3000 m 7:30.84 | 6th in the Olympics (1996) and WC (1997) |
Sylvia Kibet ♀ [45] | 5000 m 14:31.91—10,000 m 30:47.20 | Olympic bronze 2008, WC silver 2009 and 2011 |
Eliud Kipchoge ♂ [76] | Marathon 2:01:39 (WR)—5000 m 12:46.53 | Olympic gold 2016 and 2021, WC gold 2003 |
Florence Kiplagat ♀ [46] | Half marathon 1:05:09—10,000 m 30:11.53 | WC gold 2009 and 2010 (cross-country and half marathon) |
Wilson Kipsang ♂ [96] | Marathon 2:03:13—Half marathon 58:59 | Olympic bronze 2012, 5 World Marathon Major wins |
Abel Kirui ♂ [75] | Marathon 2:05:04—Half marathon 1:00:11 | WC gold 2009 and 2011, Olympic silver 2012 |
Daniel Komen ♂ [57] | 5000 m 12:39.74 (WR)—3000 m 7:20.67 (WR) | WC gold 1997 |
Brigid Kosgei ♀ [92] | Marathon 2:14:04 (WR)—Half marathon 1:04:49 | Olympic silver 2021, 1st in four Marathon majors 2018–2020 |
Paul M. Kosgei ♀ [93] | Half marathon 59:07—10,000 m 27:21.56 | WC gold (half marathon) 2002 |
Ingrid Kristiansen ♀ [63] | 10,000 m 30:13.74 (WR)—Marathon 2:21:06 (WR) | WC gold 1987, EC gold 1986 |
Bernard Lagat ♂ [52] | 5000 m 12:53.60—1500 m 3:26.34 | 2× WC gold 2007, Olympic silver 2004 and bronze 2000 |
Thomas Longosiwa ♂ [58] | 5000 m 12:49.04—3000 m 7:30.09 | Olympic bronze 2012 |
Tegla Loroupe ♀ [86] | Marathon 2:20:43—10 000 m 30:32.03 | 3× WC gold (half marathon) and 2× WC silver 1995–1999 |
Lisa Martin ♀ [88] | Marathon 2:23:51—10,000 m 31:11.72 | Olympic silver 1988 |
Greg Meyer ♂ [79] | Marathon 2:09:01—10,000 m 27:53.1 | Winner of Boston marathon 1981 and 1983 |
Geoffrey Mutai ♂ [73] | Marathon 2:04:15—Half marathon 58:58 | Winner of New York, Boston and Berlin marathon 2011–2013 |
Imane Merga ♂ [59] | 10 000 m 26:48.35—5000 m 12:53.58 | WC bronze 2011, WC gold cross-country 2011 |
Lorraine Moller ♀ [97] | Marathon 2:28:17 | Olympic bronze 1992 |
David Moorcroft ♂ [51] | 5000 m 13:00.41 (WR)—3000 m 7:32.79 | EC bronce 1978 and 1982 |
Moses Mosop ♂ [72] | Marathon 2:05:03—10,000 m 26:49.55 | WC bronze 2005 |
Craig Mottram ♂ [53] | 5000 m 12:55.76—3000 m 7:32.19 | WC bronze 2005 |
Caleb Ndiku ♂ [55] | 5000 m 12:59.17—3000 m 7:30.99 | WC silver 2015 |
Yobes Ondieki ♂ [56] | 10,000 m 26:58.38 (WR)—5000 m 13:01.82 | WC gold 1991 |
Sonia O'Sullivan ♀ [48] | 5000 m 14:41.02—3000 m 8:21.64 | WC gold 1995, 3 × EC gold 1994–1998, Olympic silver 2000 |
Jim Peters ♂ [64] | Marathon 2:17:40 | Four marathon WRs in the 1950s |
Gordon Pirie ♂ [65] | 5000 m 13:36.8—3000 m 7:52.8 | Olympic silver 1956, EC bronze 1958 |
Paula Radcliffe ♀ [89] | Marathon 2:15:25 (WR)—10,000 m 30:01.09 | WC gold, 3× WC half marathon gold, EC gold 2000–2005 |
Bill Rodgers ♂ [90] | Marathon 2:09:27 (WR)—10,000 m 28:04.42 | Multiple winner of Boston and New York marathon 1976–1980 |
Rodgers Rop ♂ [94] | Marathon 2:07:32—Half marathon 1:00:56 | Winner of New York and Boston marathon 2002 |
Molly Seidel [84] | Marathon 2:25:13—Half marathon 1:08:29 | Olympic bronze 2021 |
Toshihiko Seko ♂ [91] | Marathon 2:08:27—10,000 m 27:42.17 | Winner of Boston, London and Chicago marathon in the 1980s |
Mubarak H. Shami ♂ [77] | Marathon 2:07:19—Half marathon 1:00:47 | WC silver 2007, WC half marathon silver 2005 |
Charlie Spedding ♂ [74] | Marathon 2:08:33—10,000 m 28:08.12 | Olympic bronze 1984 |
Ian Stewart ♂ [66] | 10,000 m 27:43.03—5000 m 13:22.8 | EC gold 1969, Olympic bronze 1972 |
Paul Tergat ♂ [54] | 10,000 m 26:27.85—Marathon 2:04:55 (WR) | 5× WC gold cross-country and 2× Olympic silver 1995–1900 |
Andy Vernon [50] | 5000 m 13:11.50—10,000 m 27:42.62 | EC silver and bronze 2014 |
Lasse Viren ♂ [67] | 5000 m 13:16.4 (WR)—10,000 m 27:38.35 (WR) | 4× Olympic gold 1972–1976, WC bronze 1974 |
Grethe Waitz ♀ [68] | Marathon 2:24:54 (WR)—Half marathon 1:07:50 | WC gold 1983 and 5× WC cross-country gold 1978–1983 |
Susanne Wigene ♀ [47] | 10,000 m 30:32.36—5000 m 14:48.53 | EC silver 2006 |
Emil Zatopek [97] | 5000 m 13:57.0—10,000 m 28:54.2 | 4× Olympic golds and 4× EC golds 1948–1954 |
Coaches [ref.] | Successful long-distance athletes | Athlete merits |
---|---|---|
Nic Bideau [20] | Craig Mottram | WC bronze 2005 |
Bill Bowerman [21] | Steve Prefontaine, Bill Dellinger, Matt Centrowitz | Bowerman trained 31 Olympic athletes |
Antonio Cabral [22] | Alberto Chaica, Fernando Couto | Olympic and WC finals |
Abel Kirui, Sylvia Kibet, Imane Merga | 45 Olympic/WC medals, 15 World Marathon Major wins | |
Jack Daniels [25] | Coached seven athletes to the U.S. Olympic team | Olympic finals |
John Davis [26] | Dick Quax, Lorraine Moller | Olympic medals |
Brad Hudson [27] | Dathan Ritzenhein | Olympic finals |
Mihaly Igloi [28] | Multiple long-distance athletes in the 1950s and 1960s | A total of 49 world records |
Murray Halberg, Barry Magee | Olympic medals in the 1960s | |
Mihaly Iglói [28] | Sándor Iharos, Jim Beatty, Bob Schul | His athletes achieved 49 WRs in the 1950s and 1960s |
Steve Magness [32] | Assistant coach and advisor for elite runners | Seven top-15 finishes at WC |
Kim McDonald [33] | Daniel Komen, Stephen Cherono | Olympic and WC medals |
Terrence Mahon [34] | Deena Kastor, Jen Rhines, and Ryan Hall | Olympic medals and finals |
Gabriele Rosa [35] | Moses Tanui, Paul Tergat, Sammy Wanjiru | Olympic medals |
Coach for the US Olympic team in 1998 | Olympic finals | |
Chris Wardlaw [38] | Steve Moneghetti, Rob De Castella, Craig Mottram | WC medals |