20,000 metres

This article is about the track race; it is not to be confused with 20K run, the same distance run on a road.

The 20,000 metres (approximately 12.43 mi or 65,617 ft) is a rarely contested long-distance running event in track and field competitions; most world records in the event have been set during half marathons and one-hour races, as a half marathon is roughly 21,000 meters.

World Records

+ = indicates a time was taken at an intermediate distance in a longer race

Men

• 

  Zersenay Tadese in the lead pack of the 2013 Prague Half Marathon

  Updated January 2024.

Event	Result	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Place	Meeting	Citation
20,000 m (track)	56:20.02+	Bashir Abdi	Belgium	4 September 2020	Brussels	Memorial Van Damme
20 km (road)	54:29+	Jacob Kiplimo	Uganda	21 Nov 2021	Lisbon	Lisbon Half Marathon

Women

• Correct as of January 2024.

Event	Result	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Place	Meeting	Citation
20,000 m (track)	1:05:26.6	Tegla Loroupe	Kenya	3 Sep 2000	Borgholzhausen
20 km (road)	59:35+	Letesenbet Gidey	Ethiopia	24 Oct 2021	Valencia	Valencia Half Marathon

All-time top 25

• + = en route to longer performance
• h = hand timed

Men

• Updated September 2022.

Rank	Result (m)	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place	Ref
1	56:20.02+	Bashir Abdi	Belgium	4 September 2020	Brussels
2	56:20.30+	Mo Farah	Great Britain	4 September 2020	Brussels
3	56:20.55+	Sabastian Sawe	Kenya	2 September 2022	Brussels
4	56:26.0+	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	27 June 2007	Ostrava
5	56:51.60+	Sondre Nordstad Moen	Norway	7 August 2020	Kristiansand
6	56:55.6+ h	Arturo Barrios	Mexico	30 March 1991	La Fléche
7	57:07.41+	Kibiwott Kandie	Kenya	2 September 2022	Brussels
8	57:18.4+ h	Dionisio Castro	Portugal	31 March 1990	La Flèche
9	57:24.2+	Jos Hermens	Netherlands	1 May 1976	Arnhem
10	57:28.7+ h	Carl Thackery	Great Britain	31 March 1990	La Flèche
11	57:44.4+ h	Gaston Roelants	Belgium	20 September 1972	Brussels
12	57:48.7	Toshihiko Seko	Japan	11 May 1985	Odawara
13	57:50.25+	Morhad Amdouni	France	19 September 2020	Lucciana
14	58:17.3+	Daniel Mateo	Spain	20 April 2021	La Nucía
15	58:18.4+	Bertrand Itsweire	France	31 March 1990	La Flèche
16	58:25.0	Bill Rodgers	United States	9 August 1977	Boston
17	58:30.2+	Werner Schildhauer	Germany	29 April 1983	Cottbus
18	58:37.2+ h	Rob de Castella	Australia	17 April 1982	Rome
19	58:37.8+ h	Mariano Haro	Spain	9 August 1975	San Sebastián
20	58:53.6+	Girmaw Amare	Israel	26 January 2020	Tel Aviv
21	58:43.8 h	Franco Fava	Italy	9 April 1977	Rome
22	59:02.0 h	Rashid Sharafetdinov	Soviet Union	2 May 1971	Leningrad
23	59:14.02	Stéphane Schweickhardt	Switzerland	15 April 1998	Martigny
24	59:19.0	András Fancsali	Hungary	15 April 1978	Budapest
25	59:24.8+	Leszek Bebło	Poland	31 March 1990	La Flèche

Notes

Below is a list of all other times equal or superior to 57:55.00:

• Sondre Nordstad Moen also ran 57:55.0+ h (2020).

Women

• Updated September 2022.

Rank	Result	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place	Ref
1	1:05:26.6	Tegla Loroupe	Kenya	3 September 2000	Borgholzhausen
2	1:05:35.3	Dire Tune	Ethiopia	17 June 2009	Ostrava
3	1:06:48.8	Izumi Maki	Japan	19 September 1993	Amagasaki
4	1:06:55.5	Rosa Mota	Portugal	14 May 1983	Lisbon
5	1:07:19.9	Naomi Sakashita	Japan	10 October 1995	Amagasaki
6	1:07:47.0	Kaori Kumura	Japan	19 September 1993	Amagasaki
7	1:07:49.9	Rika Ota	Japan	17 June 1992	Akashi
8	1:07:52.0	Midori Shimizu	Japan	1 October 1994	Amagasaki
9	1:08:07.6	Megumi Fujiwara	Japan	17 June 1992	Akashi
10	1:08:46.6	Takako Kobayashi	Japan	1 October 1994	Amagasaki
11	1:08:51.9	Junko Asari	Japan	17 June 1992	Akashi
12	1:08:52.6	Nanae Sasaki	Japan	29 May 1984	Tokyo
13	1:08:59.2	Aki Yasaki	Japan	17 June 1992	Akashi
14	1:09:19.1	Chiyuki Ona	Japan	17 June 1992	Akashi
15	1:09:53.0	Blandine Bitzner	France	13 May 2000	La Celle-Saint-Cloud
16	1:10:30.4+	Helena Javornik	Slovenia	19 July 2006	Maribor
17	1:10:35.0	Leah Malot	Kenya	17 June 2009	Ostrava
18	1:10:50.2	Christa Vahlensieck	West Germany	25 October 1975	Essen
19	1:10:56.6	Ágnes Özéné Sipka	Hungary	16 October 1988	Székesfehérvár
20	1:11:00.0	Miki Kitajima	Japan	20 September 1993	Amagasaki
21	1:11:05.0+	Judit Nagy	Hungary	22 October 1989	Székesfehérvár
22	1:11:17.6	Chiara Mainetti	Argentina	18 June 2022	Buenos Aires
23	1:11:48.9+	Karolina Szabo	Hungary	23 April 1988	Budapest
24	1:12:44	Maria Luisa Irizar	Spain	23 June 1985	Laredo
25

In popular culture

Tegla Loroupe's 20,000 meter world record was mentioned in Chapter 1, problem 64P of Chemistry (Seventh Edition) by John E. McMurry, Robert C. Fay, and Jill Kirsten Robinson.