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Countries with the Fastest Marathoners

Name the countries with the most runners who have run a marathon in less than 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Through 25 February, 2023
Bahrain is filled in because its athletes appear to be entirely paid mercenaries
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: February 25, 2023
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First submittedAugust 18, 2016
Times taken62,511
Average score66.7%
Rating4.47
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#
Best Time
Country
535
2:01:09
Kenya
252
2:01:41
Ethiopia
163
2:04:56
Japan
30
2:04:35
Eritrea
30
2:04:58
United States
29
2:05:26
Morocco
23
2:06:25
Spain
17
2:05:11
United Kingdom
16
2:06:33
South Africa
15
2:07:19
Italy
#
Best Time
Country
14
2:03:00
Tanzania
14
2:05:22
France
13
2:04:48
Uganda
11
2:07:19
Mexico
9
2:04:43
Bahrain
9
2:04:51
Brazil
8
2:07:20
South Korea
8
2:06:36
Portugal
8
2:06:58
Israel
+2
Level 65
Aug 18, 2016
More time, please
+54
Level 57
Sep 22, 2016
Disagree - more time turns it into a speed-typing race. The test is knowing your athletics.
+51
Level 72
Oct 23, 2017
Yet a marathon is a long-haul race... ;)
+6
Level 92
Aug 23, 2016
For some reason this quiz made me feel bad, like I was profiling countries. Ah well.
+17
Level 88
Nov 26, 2018
Well, I'll go there: Japan???
+44
Level 84
Mar 18, 2021
You really shouldn't. There's no discriminatory element to the fact that certain countries/cultures have been better at certain sports (it's not limited to sports either, you see it in nearly every discipline). Some sports are pretty even across a lot of countries, like golf and tennis and basketball. But if you think ice hockey, you think Canada, Russia, etc. If you think table tennis, China and Taiwan. Speed skating: South Korea. And so on. Nothing to be ashamed about knowing those things.
+4
Level 79
Apr 21, 2021
🙄
+1
Level 57
Mar 6, 2023
Why? It's a proven fact that marathon runners from Kenya and Ethiopia dominate the race. So why not go for bordering countries or nearby countries? I personally thought of Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Botswana, then worked my way out. I probably guessed over half of the African nations. Unsurprisingly, that seems to be the dominant continent in this quiz. Some outliers, but most were not all that surprising.
+15
Level 61
Sep 22, 2016
Wow, that Kenya number is impressive.
+25
Level 82
Sep 22, 2016
WOW is right. I knew before coming that Kenya and Ethiopia would dominate, but, by THAT much? Wow. Also, had no idea Japan had so many. I guess sumo wrestlers are faster than they look. They blow away 4th place but I had no idea.
+1
Level 28
Feb 17, 2019
lol ha ha
+6
Level 55
Sep 22, 2016
I know it's implied, but you should specify that it's the "men's" marathon times. Hope you can put together a women's quiz too.
+57
Level 73
Sep 22, 2016
I don't see a reason to rename it as this quiz is inclusive of women who have run sub-2:10 marathon times.
+7
Level 55
Sep 22, 2016
Excellent point, thanks
+9
Level 75
Mar 18, 2021
I assume if a woman ever got under 2:10 they would be included.
+8
Level 63
Sep 22, 2016
Who would have ever guessed that Japan had that many successful marathoners? That is amazing.
+3
Level 60
Apr 21, 2021
There's a law in Japan which restricts people to get obese
+5
Level 20
Apr 21, 2021
It is not illegal in Japan to be overweight. The law you are referencing, that went into effect April 1, forces companies and the government (the two sources of health insurance in Japan) to measure the body fat of employees ages 40 to 74.

Employers may be required to pay more into the national health care system if the waistlines of employees exceed the government’s limits.

+1
Level 60
Sep 22, 2016
Huh, maybe I should run a marthon.
+11
Level 72
Nov 2, 2017
Sure, why not?! It's easy! Step 1: Start running. There's no step 2. ;)
+43
Level 74
Oct 1, 2018
There's step 3 and 4 and 5 and likely about 42.000 more :)
+5
Level 54
Sep 22, 2016
Ironic to see Greece isn't up there given that it's named after a Greek city.
+27
Level 82
Sep 22, 2016
yeah and the Greek guy who ran that first marathon died from the exertion.
+43
Level 86
Nov 24, 2018
They learned their lesson early on ;)
+8
Level 88
Nov 26, 2018
They made it a spectator sport to view other countries' misery after that.
+2
Level 40
Jan 2, 2017
Uganda?
+4
Level 86
Nov 24, 2018
Kenya has more than the rest of the list combined. Ethiopia and Japan each have more than the next five countries on the list combined.
+10
Level 75
Nov 26, 2018
And almost all their great runners are from the Kalenjin (and especially the Nandi) people. From Wikipedia:

"Since the mid-1960s, Kenyan men have earned the largest share of major honours in international athletics (track and field) at distances from 800 meters to the marathon; the vast majority of these Kenyan running stars have been Kalenjin. From 1980 on, about 40% of the top honours available to men in international athletics at these distances (Olympic medals, World Championships medals, and World Cross Country Championships honours) have been earned by Kalenjin."

+3
Level 67
Nov 26, 2018
To me, Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania were the obvious ones.
+1
Level 68
Nov 27, 2018
I think you got it wrong with South Africa. 2:06:33 is Stephen Kiprotich's time in London Olympics Marathon. He is Ugandan.
+1
Level 55
Nov 27, 2018
Missing France : 2 h 6 min 36 s Benoît Zwierzchiewski 6 avril 2003 Paris
+1
Level 62
Dec 2, 2019
Has there been 10= french runners?
+1
Level 55
Jan 5, 2023
That's not what the quiz is about though, unless it's a hidden requirement?
+1
Level 44
Nov 27, 2018
nobody care about their real name...
+3
Level 32
Jan 3, 2019
All I got was Ethiopia and Kenya, lol.
+1
Level 47
Mar 22, 2020
Same
+3
Level 77
Feb 17, 2019
Good quiz. But, can somebody explain why USA was guessed more than Kenya? Even though Kenya appears to have more people in this list than the rest of the World put together? Also, I note that some were surprised by the Japanese. Shouldn't be when you consider their "national character". Dogged determination and giving up brings shame.
+7
Level 48
May 9, 2019
Because it's 3 characters (easy to type) and a lot of marathons are held here (big country with lots of cities). If I want to run a marathon I can just go down the street, or drive a little while. Or even just fly to Kenya if there's a marathon there, it's not that expensive. Harder for a Kenyan to get over here, I imagine.
+21
Level 65
Mar 22, 2020
When people dont know, they type big countries that tend to show up on most quizzes
+4
Level 72
Mar 18, 2021
Big countries? Well, China, Russia and India didn't show up on this one.
+7
Level 84
Mar 18, 2021
Of course not, but Sifhraven was saying that those countries are GUESSED most often when people aren't sure. If there was a list of most guessed countries, right or wrong, China and Russia would probably show up (not so sure about India though).
+2
Level 92
Mar 18, 2021
Wasn't at all surprised by Japan they normally have someone in the elite runner field, they have the major race in Tokyo and running is very popular there as it is an easy way to keep fit in the big cities.
+1
Level 26
Aug 6, 2019
Minor correction: At the Chicago Marathon 2018, Mo Farah (UK) ran a time of 2:05:11, so even faster than in London 2018.
+1
Level 52
Mar 22, 2020
I thought of Eritrea, but the fact of how the population is relatively small to the other countries, I didn't think it would actually be an answer.
+1
Level 42
Aug 5, 2020
done. 1min and 30 seconds left
+8
Level 77
Mar 18, 2021
I'll take these guys marathon times and quadruple them!
+3
Level 72
Mar 18, 2021
I can match their times, but only if I drop out after the first 5 miles.
+1
Level 74
Mar 18, 2021
I hate to be overly technical, but this isn't through March 17 but rather January 30. Since then, the Japanese record has been broke, plus a ton of Japanese marathoners broke 2:10 (some of whom I'm sure weren't previously on the list).

Also, it's not under 2:10, but 2:10:30.

+1
Level 46
Mar 18, 2021
South Korea? WHAAAAAAT?!

I'm very impressed.

+1
Level 90
Mar 18, 2021
Had guessed ~14 of them and pretty much went through every African country I hadn't already guessed after that. Phew.
+12
Level 55
Mar 21, 2021
POV: You wrote Jamaica because of Usain Bolt
+1
Level 46
Apr 21, 2021
Yep lol
+1
Level 54
Apr 21, 2021
Darn, Eritrea got me. Do places like India not prioritize runners? They are so populated, I definitely tried them as a guess, but not too surprised based on the other answers.
+1
Level 62
Apr 21, 2021
Sports infrastructure is really really poor in India, and even non-existent in some states.
+3
Level 60
Apr 21, 2021
The list is basically "developed countries with strong running cultures and large populations" and "developing countries with targeted programmes for developing elite athletes." India has very little amateur running culture and no particular support for professional runners.
+3
Level ∞
Feb 25, 2023
Even more than that, it's people with a very specific genetic profile.
+2
Level 68
Apr 21, 2021
They don't really prioritise any Olympic sports. Despite its huge population, India has won a grand total of 28 summer Olympic medals since their first participation in 1900 - 11 of which in field hockey.
+2
Level 68
Apr 21, 2021
In fact, one guy has won 100% of the summer olympic medals India has ever won in athletics (or track and field, as the yanks call it), and that was in 1900 (Norman Pritchard, who won silver in men's 200m and 200m hurdles).
+1
Level 71
Apr 21, 2021
Kenya is absolutely insane!!! And this list is certainly very diverse! African countries usually don't dominate much at sports, so it's nice seeing how many there are here.
+2
Level 68
Apr 21, 2021
African countries usually do shockingly bad at the Winter Olympics.
+1
Level 72
Apr 22, 2021
One of the main reasons they’re so much better is the altitude on the plateaus of East Africa, which leads to naturally larger lung capacity and more efficient respiratory system. Although there are other interesting factors here: https://populous.com/born-to-run-why-do-east-africans-dominate-long-distance-running-events
+2
Level 68
Apr 23, 2021
Yes, that very likely plays a role, although it would be hard to say if it's more or less significant than the running culture, where running is valued, encouraged, where the people have role models and success stories surrounding them... It's probably a combination of both!
+3
Level ∞
Feb 25, 2023
It's actually not diverse at all. Kenya and a handful of other countries dominate the world while most other countries are entirely absent. There are more people on this list from a tiny area of Kenya than from China, India, and the United States combined.
+2
Level 74
Apr 21, 2021
In case anyone's wandering, Uganda has 8 on the list under 2:10. They'll probably get on here within a few years.
+1
Level 74
Apr 21, 2021
Wait, I don't get it at all. According to the source there are only 5 Australians who have run a marathon in under 2:10? You only get to 10 Australians by including the 5 Australians who ran between 2:10:00 and 2:10:30. So either Australia ought to be removed or the description needs to be changed.
+2
Level 58
Mar 26, 2022
I think it counts number of fast marathons ran rather than number of people, so if one person ran a sub-2:10 three times, they are counted three times.
+1
Level 55
Apr 21, 2021
surprised germany wasn't on here when the first three people on the source given are from Berlin..
+5
Level 68
Apr 22, 2021
Berlin is known for being a particularly fast marathon track (mainly because the city is very flat), but the race is usually not won by people *from* Berlin!
+1
Level 81
Apr 22, 2021
I could never imagine Spain would be in the list... I'm spanish.
+2
Level 19
Oct 27, 2021
Please update, Bashir Abdi recently ran 02:03:36 in the Rotterdam Marathon.
+1
Level 66
Mar 20, 2022
Please update best time of Japan.

Suzuki Kengo ran 2:04:56 at 2021-02-28.

+1
Level 74
Feb 25, 2023
Kipchoge is the GOAT
+1
Level 59
Feb 25, 2023
Bahrain did the money strat.
+4
Level 80
Feb 26, 2023
Absolutely ridiculous that many of the Gulf countries think they need to bribe and cheat in sports to achieve a status on par with the developed world. I know this won’t ever happen, but I wish sports could be exempt from politics. I understand that politics play a role in many sports, but I think the focus should be on the talent of the athletes and not their country.
+2
Level 64
Jul 21, 2023
*Qatar hiding in the corner*
+1
Level 65
Feb 26, 2023
Checking the source and I see other countries like BEL (I'm assuming for Belgium), and TUR (again, assuming Turkey). Is there a reason that they didn't make the list?
+1
Level ∞
Feb 26, 2023
Yes. They didn't have enough different runners under 2:10.
+1
Level 75
Feb 28, 2023
im the fastest marathoner
+1
Level 74
Feb 28, 2023
I see Australia was removed, thank you for checking on that.
+1
Level 36
Mar 6, 2023
Only missed Israel
+1
Level 62
Mar 6, 2023
Excellent point about the faux-Bahrainis (and quiz).
+1
Level 69
Mar 6, 2023
I found it really funny for some reason. Probably because of how they found creative ways around the problem.
+1
Level 81
Mar 26, 2023
The "official" American record is 2:05:38.

A decent chunk of the fast American times (but certainly not all) happen at the Boston Marathon which is a point-to-point race (start and end are in sufficiently different places) and thus none of those times are recognized by World Athletics.

If you update the quiz in the future, it might be a good idea to filter out the point-to-point times (the ones with an "a" next to them in your source) since as far as I know nobody in the marathon community recognizes them as actual records for the sake of comparison. They're obviously still very impressive personal achievements but are fundamentally different from times obtained at more standard marathons.

+1
Level 28
May 29, 2023
*brain* you can do this!

*me* forgets Italy and South Africa but gets Eritrea,”bruh”

+1
Level 49
Sep 26, 2023
Tanzania should be on here
+2
Level 61
Oct 31, 2023
Any particular reason for UK, France, Italy, Portugal but not Germany?

Also remember to update soon for Kelvin Kiptum

+1
Level 49
Feb 14, 2024
RIP Kiptum...