The Boston Marathon, one of six World Marathon Majors, is a race which has been held in the Greater Boston area in Massachusetts since 1897, making it the oldest annual marathon in the world. The event is held on Patriots' Day, which was April 19 (or April 20 if April 19 was a Sunday) until the implementation of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1971. Since 1971, except in 2020 (race not held) or 2021 (Columbus Day holiday), the Boston Marathon is held on the third Monday in April. Various factors meant that until 1957 the course varied in length, due to which the marathon recognizes several course records that are slower than previous records due to being run on longer courses. The first Boston Marathon included only 15 runners, all of whom were men, and was won by John McDermott. The race was cancelled twice, in 1918 because of World War I, where a ekiden-style relay was conducted of military teams, and in 2020, when Massachusetts authorities refused to allow the event to be conducted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through the 2025 edition: overall winners (men's open division) have represented 19 countries, with Americans having won the marathon the most, doing so on 43 occasions; Kenyans have won 26 times; and Canadians 16 times. Winners in the women's open division have represented 10 countries: Kenyan women have won 17 races, American women have won 16 times, and Ethiopian women have won 8 times. Ernst van Dyk is the most successful individual athlete, having won the men's wheelchair division 10 times. Course records are held by John Korir (men), Sharon Lokedi (women), Marcel Hug (men's wheelchair), and Manuela Schär (women's wheelchair).

Clarence DeMar won the men's open race seven times, more than any other runner, achieving his first victory in 1911 and his last in 1930. Women were only officially allowed to run the race beginning in 1972, though female runners had unofficially participated beginning in 1966 despite breaching the rules of the Amateur Athletic Union. The first six victories in the women's open division, between 1966 and 1971, were officially recognized in 1996. Bobbi Gibb was the first woman to finish the race in 1966, while Nina Kuscsik was the first official winner in 1972. Catherine Ndereba's four victories between 2000 and 2005 are the most in the women's open division. The Boston Marathon became the first major marathon to include a wheelchair division, in 1975, which was won by Robert Hall, though the first person to complete the race in a wheelchair had been Eugene Roberts in 1970. The first female wheelchair finisher, Sharon Rahn, came in 1977. Ernst van Dyk's ten wins in the men's wheelchair division are the most of any athlete at Boston, while Jean Driscoll leads the women's wheelchair division with seven wins, and holds the overall record for the most consecutive victories, also seven. A handcyclist division was recognized for the first time in 2017, though handcyclists had been taking part prior to that. Tom Davis has won the first three men's handcyclist races since it was officially recognized in 2017, and still holds the course record. Alicia Dana has won the women's handcycle race three times, setting a course record each time.

The course was designed to replicate the original marathon in Greece; a hilly point-to-point race, and as such has not been the venue for many world records. Suh Yun-bok set the only World Athletics-ratified men's open division world record in 1947, in a time of 2:25:39. Two apparent world record times set between 1951 and 1956 by Keizo Yamada and Antti Viskari were later struck when the course was found to be over short. In 1975, Liane Winter took advantage of a following wind to set a world record in the women's open race of 2:42:24, and eight years later, Joan Benoit beat a world record that had only been set the day before at the London Marathon, finishing in 2:22:43. Since 1990, the Boston Marathon has been ineligible for world records, as the start and finish are too far away from each other, and the race is a net downhill. In 2011, Geoffrey Mutai won the race in 2:03:02, which was the world's fastest time for the marathon, beating the official world record by 57 seconds.

Winners All Editions Results

Key

Men's open division

+ Winners: Men's open division Year Winner Country Time Distance Notes 1897 2:55:10 Starting line in Ashland, Massachusetts 1898 2:42:00 1899 2:54:38 1900 2:39:44 1901 2:29:23 Second victory 1902 2:43:12 1903 2:41:29 1904 2:38:04 1905 2:38:25 1906 2:45:45 1907 2:24:24 1908 2:25:43 1909 2:53:36 1910 2:28:52 1911 2:21:39 1912 2:21:18 1913 2:25:14 1914 2:25:14 1915 2:31:41 1916 2:27:16 1917 2:28:37 1918 colspan=2 2:29:53 Ten-man ekiden was held over the course for military teams. Camp Devens was the winner. 1919 2:29:13 1920 2:29:31 1921 2:18:57 1922 2:18:10 Second victory; 24.5-mile course record 1923 2:23:47 Third victory 1924 2:29:40 Starting line moved to Hopkinton, Massachusetts; fourth victory for DeMar 1925 2:33:00 1926 2:25:40 1927 2:40:22 Course record, fifth victory 1928 2:37:07 Course record, sixth victory 1929 2:33:08 Course record, second victory 1930 2:34:48 Seventh victory 1931 2:46:45 1932 2:33:36 1933 2:31:01 Course record 1934 2:32:53 1935 2:32:07 1936 2:33:40 1937 2:33:20 1938 2:35:34 Second victory 1939 2:28:51 Course record, second victory 1940 2:28:28 Course record 1941 2:30:38 Third victory 1942 2:26:51 Course record 1943 2:28:25 Second victory 1944 2:31:50 Third victory 1945 2:30:40 Second victory 1946 2:29:27 1947 Suh Yun-bok 2:25:39 World record 1948 2:31:02 Fourth victory 1949 2:31:50 1950 Ham Kee-yong 2:32:39 1951 2:27:45 1952 2:31:53 1953 2:18:51 Considered a world record until it was discovered that the course was short. 1954 2:20:39 1955 2:18:22 1956 2:14:14 course record; considered a world record until it was discovered that the course was short. 1957 2:20:05 Course record 1958 2:25:54 1959 2:22:42 1960 2:20:54 1961 2:23:39 Second victory 1962 2:23:48 Third victory 1963 2:18:58 Course record 1964 2:19:59 Second victory 1965 2:16:33 Course record 1966 2:17:11 1967 2:15:45 Course record 1968 2:22:17 1969 2:13:49 Course record 1970 2:10:30 Course record 1971 2:18:45 1972 2:15:39 1973 2:16:03 1974 2:13:39 1975 2:09:55 Course record 1976 2:20:19 1977 2:14:46 1978 2:10:13 Second victory 1979 2:09:27 Course record, third victory 1980 2:12:11 Fourth victory 1981 2:09:26 Course record 1982 2:08:52 Course record 1983 2:09:00 1984 2:10:34 1985 2:14:05 Second victory 1986 2:07:51 Course record 1987 2:11:50 Second victory 1988 2:08:43 1989 2:09:06 1990 2:08:19 1991 2:11:06 Second victory 1992 2:08:14 Third victory 1993 2:09:33 1994 2:07:15 Course record, second victory 1995 2:09:22 Third victory 1996 2:09:15 1997 2:10:34 1998 2:07:34 Second victory 1999 2:09:52 2000 2:09:47 2001 2:09:43 2002 2:09:02 2003 2:10:11 2004 2:10:37 2005 2:11:44 2006 2:07:14 Course record, second victory 2007 2:14:13 Third victory 2008 2:07:45 Fourth victory 2009 2:08:42 2010 2:05:52 Course record 2011 2:03:02 former men's course record; world's fastest time 2012 2:12:40 2013 2:10:22 2014 2:08:37 2015 2:09:17 Second victory 2016 Lemi Berhanu Hayle 2:12:45 2017 2:09:37 2018 2:15:58 2019 2:07:57 2020 colspan=5 2021 2:09:51 Held in October 2022 2:06:51 20232:05:5420242:06:1720252:04:45Brother of 2012 winner Wesley Korir2026 2:01:50Second victory, course record

Women's open division

+ Winners: Women's open division Year Winner Country Time Notes 1966 3:21:40 Unofficial era, course record 1967 3:27:17 Unofficial era, second victory 1968 3:30:00 Unofficial era, third victory 1969 3:22:46 Unofficial era 1970 3:05:07 Unofficial era, course record, second victory 1971 3:08:30 Unofficial era, third victory 1972 3:10:26 First year that women were officially sanctioned, official course record 1973 3:05:59 Official course record 1974 2:47:11 Course record 1975 2:42:24 World record. Represented the Federal Republic of Germany (commonly known as West Germany before 1990). 1976 2:47:10 1977 2:48:33 Second victory 1978 2:44:52 1979 2:35:15 Course record 1980 2:34:28 Course record; Rosie Ruiz was declared the winner of the 1980 race, but was later stripped of her win when it was discovered she did not run the entire race. 1981 2:26:46 Course record 1982 2:29:33 Represented the Federal Republic of Germany (commonly known as West Germany before 1990). 1983 2:22:43 World record, second victory 1984 2:29:28 1985 2:34:06 1986 2:24:55 1987 2:25:21 1988 2:24:30 Second victory 1989 2:24:33 Second victory 1990 2:25:24 Third victory 1991 2:24:18 1992 2:23:43 1993 2:25:27 Second victory 1994 2:21:45 Course record 1995 2:25:11 Second victory 1996 2:27:12 Third victory 1997 2:26:23 1998 2:23:21 Second victory 1999 2:23:25 Third victory 2000 2:26:11 2001 2:23:53 Second victory 2002 2:20:43 Course record 2003 2:25:19 2004 2:24:27 Third victory 2005 2:25:12 Fourth victory 2006 2:23:38 2007 2:29:18 2008 2:25:25 2009 2:32:16 2010 2:26:11 2011 2:22:36 2012 2:31:50 2013 2:26:25 Second victory 2014 2:19:59 Course record; Rita Jeptoo originally won the 2014 race, but was subsequently disqualified for taking performance-enhancing drugs. 2015 2:24:55 2016 2:29:19 2017 2:21:52 2018 2:39:54 2019 2:23:31 2020 colspan=4 ; "virtual alternative" held in September 2021 2:25:09 Held in October; on-course winner Diana Kipyokei was later disqualified for doping. 2022 2:21:01 20232:21:3820242:22:37Second victory 2025 2:17:22 Current course record 2026 2:18:51 Second victory

Men's wheelchair division

+ Winners: Men's wheelchair division Year Winner Country Time Notes 1975 2:58:00 Course record 1976 colspan=4 1977 2:40:10 Course record, second victory 1978 2:26:57 Not listed as a course record by BAA 1979 2:38:59 Not listed as a course record by BAA 1980 1:55:00 Course record 1981 2:00:41 1982 1:51:31 1983 1:47:10 Course record, second victory 1984 2:05:20 1985 1:45:34 Course record, second victory 1986 1:43:25 Course record, second victory 1987 1:55:42 Third victory 1988 1:43:19 Course record 1989 1:36:04 Course record 1990 1:29:53 Course record, second victory 1991 1:30:44 Third victory 1992 1:26:28 Course record, fourth victory 1993 1:22:17 Course record, fifth victory 1994 1:21:23 Course record 1995 1:25:59 1996 1:30:14 Second victory 1997 1:28:14 Second victory 1998 1:21:52 Third victory 1999 1:21:36 Fourth victory 2000 1:33:32 Fifth victory 2001 1:25:12 2002 1:23:19 Second victory 2003 1:28:32 Third victory 2004 1:18:27 Course record, fourth victory 2005 1:24:11 Fifth victory 2006 1:25:29 Sixth victory 2007 1:29:16 2008 1:26:49 Seventh victory 2009 1:33:29 Eighth victory 2010 1:26:53 Ninth victory 2011 1:18:50 Second victory 2012 1:18:25 Course record 2013 1:25:33 2014 1:20:36 Tenth victory 2015 1:29:53 2016 1:24:01 Second victory 2017 1:18:03 Course record, third victory 2018 1:46:26 Fourth victory 2019 1:21:36 2020 colspan=4 2021 1:18:11 Fifth victory 2022 1:26:58 Second victory 2023 1:17:06 Course record, sixth victory 2024 1:15:35 Current course record, seventh victory 2025 1:21:34 Eighth victory

Women's wheelchair division