If you have a marathon under your belt, you have achieved something impressive – no matter your placement. Still, a superfast marathon is super impressive, and this is the fastest of them all!

The marathon is the ultimate goal for any running enthusiast, with the winner having to maintain a constant and steady speed for extremely long periods of time and over large distances.

As a result, it is one of the most demanding and difficult sports out there and something that very few people achieve in their lifetime. To most, it is about completing the marathon, not coming first.

With all that in mind, the difficulty of your average marathon makes it even more impressive to hold the world record for the fastest marathon time ever.

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Who holds the record, how did they achieve it, and what was their time?

There have been few world records more impressive than Kelvin Kiptum's record 2 hours and 35-second marathon in Chicago on October 8, 2023. Beating out the previous record holder, who had managed the Berlin marathon in only 30 seconds more than Kiptum a year earlier, the achievement is so remarkable that it is unlikely to be beaten for quite some time.

The Kenyan national took to the race with style, hitting the 3-mile mark neck and neck with his closest competitor, Daniel Mateiko. It wasn't until 15 miles later that they broke ranks and Kiptum sped ahead, leaving his rival in the dust. It was a remarkable win, breaking records and setting a personal best.

Kiptum had only six months earlier brought home the position of champion at the London marathon, where he had scored a time of 2:01:09.

The achievement also came on the same day that Dutch runner Sifan Hassan made history in women's running, becoming the second-best female marathon runner ever recorded, with a time of 2:13:44, NPR reports.

Speaking to World Athletics about his achievement, Kiptum said, "I knew I was coming for a course record, but a world record – I am so happy."

"A world record was not on my mind today, but I knew one day I would be a world record-holder," he added.

According to records kept by World Athletics, the male record holder for a half-marathon is Jacob Kiplimo from Uganda, who managed to make the record in only 57 minutes and 31 seconds on November 21, 2021. Coming up second, with only a single second more on the clock, is Kibiwott Kandie from Kenya.

On the female side of the aisle is Letesenbet Gidey from Ethiopia, who ran a half-marathon on October 24, 2021, in only one hour, two minutes, and fifty-two seconds. She was followed up by Yalemzerf Yehualaw, also from Ethiopia, who managed it in one hour, three minutes and fifty-one seconds.

One notable thing about the half-marathon times is that they are less than half of the full marathon times. Theoretically, this would make the runners faster, and potentially capable of making a full marathon in less time than was managed by Kiptum.

The difference, of course, all comes down to whether or not a runner can sustain the speed at which half-marathon competitors go at, for literally double the distance. It is an extremely taxing sport and one that requires a lot of persistence and an ability to continue for long periods of time.

It is unbelievably impressive that these folks managed to run more than 13 miles in less than an hour, and something that should be celebrated as world records.

Considering the fact that a marathon is a distance of more than 26 miles, it becomes ever the more impressive that Kelvin Kiptum has managed to make the distance in just over 2 hours. At a constant pace, that amounts to a running rate of about 13 miles per hour – about half the speed of the fastest man in the world!

The comparison might seem strange, but think about it this way – if Usain Bolt can reach what would usually be considered inhuman speeds over a distance of one hundred meters, half that speed maintained over 26 miles is absolutely insane. It goes almost without saying, then, that Kiptum's achievement is one that'll be extremely hard to beat in the future.

Still, we can't help but giggle at the less serious marathon records that people have attempted – the fastest marathon as an insect is particularly amusing. Seriously, there are tons of these!