Data Lab
Records read across every event — pace and speed, the eras records were set, how close Japan sits to the world, and who holds the marks.
World records by event — pace & speed
Each event's current world record, with its per-kilometre pace and speed, when it was set, and how long it has stood.
| Event | World record | Pace /km | Set | Standing | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 m | 9.58 | 1:36 /km | 2009 | 17 yr | 37.6 km/h |
| 200 m | 19.19 | 1:36 /km | 2009 | 17 yr | 37.5 km/h |
| 400 m | 43.03 | 1:48 /km | 2016 | 10 yr | 33.5 km/h |
| 800 m | 1:40.91 | 2:06 /km | 2012 | 14 yr | 28.5 km/h |
| 1500 m | 3:26.00 | 2:17 /km | 1998 | 28 yr | 26.2 km/h |
| 3000 m | 7:17.55 | 2:26 /km | 2024 | 2 yr | 24.7 km/h |
| 5000 m | 12:35.36 | 2:31 /km | 2020 | 6 yr | 23.8 km/h |
| 10,000 m | 26:11.00 | 2:37 /km | 2020 | 6 yr | 22.9 km/h |
| Half Marathon | 57:20 | 2:43 /km | 2026 | 0 yr | 22.1 km/h |
| Marathon | 1:59:30 | 2:50 /km | 2026 | 0 yr | 21.2 km/h |
Pace and speed are derived from each event's current world record. A sprint is far faster per kilometre than a marathon — the bars make the drop-off easy to see.
Speed decay vs the 100 m
Each event's world-record speed as a percentage of the 100 m. The gap between the sexes is widest in the sprints and narrows over distance — so women's curve falls away more gently toward the marathon.
When world records were set
Every world-record improvement across all events (men and women), counted by decade. The bars trace the eras when records fell fastest — the 1980s peak, a quieter 2010s, and a fresh surge in the 2020s.
World records only. Counts each retained world-record mark in our data; older hand-timed marks excluded by the site's policy may shift the earliest decades slightly.
World records by country
Which countries hold the current world records across these events (men and women). East Africa dominates the middle and long distances; the sprints belong to Jamaica and the United States.
Current world-record holders only (20 series: 10 events × 2 genders). Some marks predate today's nations (e.g. East Germany, Czechoslovakia) and are listed under the country of the time.
Everything above used world records only. From here we bring in the Japanese records, to see how close Japan sits to the world in each event.
How close is Japan to the world?
The Japanese record's speed as a percentage of the world record, event by event (100% = level with the world). Using speed ratio instead of raw time gaps keeps long and short events comparable on one scale.
Derived from each event's current world and Japan records. A lower value means the Japanese record sits further behind the world mark; it shows distance from the world, not a prediction of what is achievable.
Closest to the world — ranked
The same speed ratio, ranked for the selected gender: events nearer the top sit closer to the world record, those lower are further behind.
Athletes with multiple records
Runners who hold more than one current record at once — across multiple distances.
- Usain Bolt100 m · 200 m
- Florence Griffith-Joyner100 m · 200 m
- Joshua Cheptegei5000 m · 10,000 m
- Beatrice Chebet5000 m · 10,000 m
- Nozomi Tanaka1500 m · 3000 m · 5000 m
- Suguru Osako5000 m · Marathon
- Hitomi Niiya10,000 m · Half Marathon
A marathon at each world-record pace
If a runner somehow held each event's world-record pace for the full 42.195 km, here's the marathon time it would produce — the 100 m pace alone would finish in about an hour.
Purely hypothetical: nobody can hold a sprint pace for a marathon. It's a playful way to feel just how fast the shorter events really are — not a real prediction.