The result of the change was that Radcliffe's 2:17:42 performance at the 2005 London Marathon would supplant her own existing women's mark as the 'world record' the earlier performance was to be referred to as a 'world best'.

The IAAF Congress at 2011 World Championships in Athletics passed a motion changing the record eligibility criteria effective October 6th 2007, so that women's world records must be set in all-women competitions. The Association of Road Racing Statisticians, an independent organization that compiles data from road running events, also maintains an alternate marathon world best progression but with standards they consider to be more stringent. Road racing events like the marathon were specifically excepted from World Athletics rule 260 18(d) that rejected from consideration those track and field performances set in mixed competition. In recognizing Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai's mark of 2:03:02 at the 2011 Boston Marathon as (at the time) 'the fastest Marathon ever run', the IAAF said: 'Due to the elevation drop and point-to-point measurements of the Boston course, performances are not eligible for World record consideration.' 'The decrease in elevation between the start and finish shall not exceed an average of one in a thousand, i.e.

'The start and finish points of a course, measured along a theoretical straight line between them, shall not be further apart than 50% of the race distance.'.

See also: List of world records in athletics § Criteriaįor a performance to be ratified as a world record by World Athletics, the marathon course on which the performance occurred must be 42.195 km (26.219 mi) long, measured in a defined manner using the calibrated bicycle method (the distance in kilometers being the official distance, the distance in miles is an approximation) and meet other criteria that rule out artificially fast times produced on courses aided by downhill slope or tailwind.

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