Marathon world record progression

Imagine you're running in a very long race called a marathon. You have to run for 26.2 miles to finish it. Now, many people try to run this race as fast as they can, and some of them are really good at it. They set records, which means they run faster than anyone before them.

Over the years, some people have tried to run marathons faster and faster, and they keep breaking records. That's what "world record progression" means. It's like a ladder where each step is a new record that someone set by running faster than anyone before them.

The first person who officially ran a marathon in a race was a man named Spyridon Louis. He did it in 1896 in Greece, but there was no world record yet. Then, people started to pay attention to how fast people could run marathons, and a world record was born.

Since then, many runners have tried to break the world record by running faster than the previous record-holder. It took a while — almost 50 years — for the world record to drop below 2 hours and 20 minutes, which is really fast. But then, people started to get really good, and the world record started to drop faster and faster.

In the 1960s, the world record got below 2 hours and 10 minutes. That's like running a mile in less than 5 minutes. It didn't stop there! In the 1990s, the world record got below 2 hours and 6 minutes.



And then in September of 2018, a man named Eliud Kipchoge ran the marathon in under 2 hours and 1 minute. That was a new world record!

So the marathon world record is like a super-fast race where people keep breaking previous records by running faster and faster. It's really amazing to see what humans can do with their bodies and minds!