The one hour run is an
athletics event in which competitors try to cover as much distance as possible within one hour. While officially recognized by
World Athletics
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...
as a track event, it is rarely contested apart from occasional world record attempts.
The event has a long history, with first recorded races dating back to the late 17th century.
The first athlete to run more than 20 kilometers in one hour was
Emil Zátopek
Emil Zátopek (; 19 September 1922 – 21 November 2000) was a Czech long-distance runner best known for winning three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He won gold in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres runs, but his final ...
, in September 1951. Zátopek also set the
20,000 metres world record in the same race. Since that time, most men's 20,000 m world records were also set ''en route'' to one hour world records.
The men's world record is , set by
Mo Farah
Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a Somali-British former long-distance runner. Considered one of the greatest runners of all time, his ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World tit ...
, while the women's world record is , set by
Sifan Hassan
Sifan Hassan (; born January 1993 in Ethiopia) is a Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She is most recognized for her versatility in running championship and world-leading performances in widely disparate distances. She completed an unpr ...
. Both were set on 4 September 2020 during the
2020 Diamond League Ivo Van Damme Memorial.
Men's world record progression
Women's world record progression
All-time top 25
Men
*Updated September 2022.
Women
*Updated September 2020.
*Mx = Mixed race
References
External links
IAAF list of one-hour records in XML
Events in track and field
Long-distance running
Hour record
Long stubs with short prose
{{Athletics-stub