What question did this study set out to answer?

To investigate how nationality, gender, and age affect running performance in endurance runners over multiple distances.

May 25, 2026Open Access

The association between nationality, gender, age and running performance in endurance runners: an empirical analysis of worldwide multi-distance race data from 1999 to 2024

GLGuojun LiaoYan'an University JWJunmian WangYan'an University

Puntos clave

To investigate how nationality, gender, and age affect running performance in endurance runners over multiple distances.
Analyzed data from 152,943 runners across 203 countries from 1999 to 2024.
Applied mixed-effects models, three-way ANOVA, and multiple linear regression models for evaluation of trends and correlations.
Used independent samples t-tests and Pearson correlation coefficients to assess gender differences and variable associations.
More male runners than female participants in all endurance events.
US and Japan dominated 5km events, while Japan and Kenya were prominent in longer distances (10km, half marathon, marathon).
Females were significantly older than males in all events except for the 5km, with males generally running faster across all distances.

Resumen

Abstract In recent years, the increasing popularity of half-marathon and marathon events has promoted the significant growth of global endurance running participants. In endurance running, the gender, age and nationality of athletes are closely related to their running performance. To this end, this study, based on the official data from World Athletics (formerly IAAF) and the Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS), selects three demographic variables: nationality, gender, and age, aiming to explore the performance characteristics and their correlations of global runners in four different distance endurance running events: 5 km, 10 km, half marathon, and marathon from 1999 to 2024. The study included a total of 152,943 runners from 203 countries and regions (covering 180 countries, 21 regions and 2 special representative teams) (Male: n = 91,182; Female: n = 61,761). In terms of data analysis, this study used a mixed-effects model to analyze the trend of running performance and age over years, and used a three-way analysis of variance (nationality × gender × year) to test the interaction between variables. In addition, 8 multiple linear regression models were determined through the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), and independent samples t-tests and Pearson correlation coefficients were used to analyze gender differences and the association between various demographic variables and performance. This study draws the following four main conclusions: (1) In all four different distance endurance running events, there were more male runners than females; (2)In the 5km, most runners were from the United States and Japan, while in the 10km, half marathon and marathon events, runners from Japan and Kenya accounted for the main share; (3) In all endurance running events except the 5km event, females were significantly older than males; (4) Males were faster than females in all distance endurance running events.

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