Marathon world record progression races were first held in 1896, but the distance was not standardized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) until 1921. The actual distance for pre-1921 races frequently varied slightly from the present figure of 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). In qualifying races for the 1896 Summer Olympics, Greek runners Charilaos Vasilakos (3:18:00) and Ioannis Lavrentis (3:11:27) won the first two modern marathons. On April 10, 1896, Spiridon Louis of Greece won the first Olympic marathon in Athens, Greece in a time of 2:58:50; however, the distance for the event was reported to be only 40,000 meters. Three
2012 Olympic Marathon Course a new women's marathon Olympic record of , clipping 7 seconds off the previous record. The new Olympic record was 7min 42sec slower than Paula Radcliffe's world record set in 2003 during the London Marathon. The winning time of 2:08:01 by Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda in the men's marathon, on 12 August 2012, was outside the Olympic marathon record and outside the world marathon record. The winners of the Paralympic marathon events were: The 2012 Olympic route differed significantly from that of the long-established annual London Marathon. Although the Olympic route shared a finish in The Mall and a section