American Women’s Marathon Timeline
The following timeline includes major milestones in women’s American marathon history. To contextualize the significance of these major events, historical moments that influenced or surrounded women’s marathon history are included in the gray.
Photo Source: Kevin Morris via Runner’s World
1896 - Reportedly, Stamata Revithi, a Greek woman with the alias of Melpomeni, traveled to Marathon during the first modern Olympic games in 1896 and ran the marathon distance to Athens the day after the men’s race, which she was barred from.
This image is one of the only representations of Stamata. Her story is often not told in marathon history due to the myth-like stories around the validity of her run.
1897 - The first Boston marathon, originally the American marathon, was held on April 19th. Under officially and unofficially enforced rules, only white men were allowed to compete in the race.
1919 - Aaron Morris was the first Black runner to compete in the Boston Marathon, placing sixth at 2:37:31.
1926 - Violet Piercy of Great Britain ran the first marathon distance recorded as completed by a female in 3:40.22.
Smith Archive via The New York Times
Piercy is pictured running with her dog. She was an avid runner and prominent in Europe's early women’s racing circuit.
1928 - Women’s track and field were included in the 1928 Olympic games in Amsterdam. The women’s distance events were up to 800m (half-mile).
Associated Press via The Washington Post
After this Olympics, the women’s track races were limited to 200m or less due to negative audience reactions to women’s fatigue and exertion after the race. The events from 200m to 800m were not reinstated until the 1960 Rome Olympics.
1958 - The Road Runners Club of America was formed. This organization advocated for the spread of distance running events across the country, leading to regional and local chapters such as the New York Road Runners in 1960, led by Olympian and trailblazing Black distance runner Ted Corbitt, who would create the NYC marathon.
1959- Arlene Pieper ran the 8,000-ft climb of the Pikes Peak Marathon in Manitou Springs, Colorado, in 9:16. She is viewed as the first American woman to officially run a US marathon.
Pikes Peak Marathon Inc. via Colorado Sun
Pieper did not find out she had made history until the 2009 Pikes Peak race organizer reached out to her to mark the fiftieth anniversary of her run.
1966 - Roberta Gibb was refused entry into the Boston Marathon, so she entered the race shortly after the start and finished unofficially as the first woman to do so in 3:21.40.
Fred Kaplan, Sports Illustrated/Getty Images via NYT
Gibb made headlines as the first woman to run on the Boston Marathon course during race day. She inspired Kathrine Switzer to apply to run the following year.
1967 - Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to officially run and finish the Boston Marathon under the alias K.V. Switzer in a time of 4:20.
Paul Connell, The Boston Globe, via Getty Images
Pictured here is former BAA organizer Jock Semple attempting to pull Switzer out of the race when they discovered she was a woman. Her boyfriend Tom then punched him while the surrounding runners urged Semple to leave Switzer be.
1967 -Bill Bowerman, University of Oregon Coach and co-founder of Nike (1964) publishes the bestseller Jogging, which sparks a recreational running boom.
1970 - Nina Kuscsik ran the inaugural 1970 New York City marathon but dropped out at mile 15. At this time, according to the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), women were officially not allowed to run distances greater than 1.5 miles.
While this photo is from the 1972 Boston Marathon, Kuscsik was the only woman to run the inaugural NYC marathon, which did not include an official women’s field due to AAU restrictions.
1972 - The AAU altered the 1.5-mile rule, permitting women to compete in the marathon starting in 1972. However, men and women were required to start separately, so at the 1972 NYC Marathon, the women’s field protested the separation, sitting at the start line.
Patrick A. Burns, The New York Times via ESPN
Pictured here is the women’s field from the 1972 NYC marathon, sitting at the start line during the ten-minute gap between it and the men’s field start. After the race, the AAU added ten minutes to the women’s time, punishing them for the protest. However, this rule reappeared the following year.
1972 - Title IX was passed to prevent sex discrimination and applies to sports and athletics. In the years following, it will have mixed impacts on the lives of female athletes.
1972 - The Boston Marathon's first race, where an official women’s field was held.
Six years after Gibb’s daring run, the first group of eight women ran the Boston Marathon. Kuscisk won in a time of 3:10:26
1975 - Marilyn Bevans became the first African American female to win a marathon, running 3:04:32 at the Washington Birthday Marathon in Beltsville, Maryland.
Bevans emerged as a strong distance runner in the mid-1970s and became a pioneer for more women of color to enter distance running.
1977 - Lisa Lindahl, Honda Miller, and Polly Smith invent the jog bra by sewing two jock straps together. Their invention was one of the first in female-specific athletic performance apparel.
1978 - Nike created the first women’s running shoe, the Waffle Racer. Prior to this invention, and even with many modern running shoes, women's shoes were made using a men’s last, which is a mold made of a man’s foot. Running shoes with a women’s last would not become popular until the 1980s.
1978 - The Avon women’s marathon in London was held as the first-ever all-women marathon. This event influenced the decision to include an Olympic women’s marathon.
In the late 1970s, Switzer worked for cosmetic brand Avon, organizing a circuit of women-only distance races that qualified for the London marathon. Switzer used the success of the Avon races to urge the International Olympic Committee to implement a women’s marathon.
1984 - The first Olympic women’s marathon was held in Los Angeles, where American Joan Benoit won gold in 2:24:52.
Tony Duffy, Getty Images via Runner’s World
Benoit’s gold medal race in 1984 began popularizing long-distance running in the US, especially for women. Benoit became an icon seen on cereal boxes and posters across the country.
1994 - Oprah Winfrey ran the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., at 4:29:15, which led many women who are not elite athletes to think that running a marathon is possible.
Winfrey documented her journey training for the marathon and her goal of exercising for better health in the media. Her race inspired many women to take up running for similar reasons.
1996 - Girls on the Run was founded in Charlotte, N.C., to serve young girls at their schools to be empowered by movement and exercise.
1998 - Chip Wilson founded Lululemon Athletica with the mission of creating female-specific athletic wear that is also functional and stylish.
2007 - Paula Radcliffe, of Great Britain, won the 2007 NYC marathon 10 months after giving birth. Her effort inspired many mothers to start or continue running into motherhood.
While Radcliffe is British, images of her holding her child after her NYC win corrected the social misconception that women lost fitness or athletic capability after giving birth.
2007 - Sally Bergeson founded the women’s running brand Oiselle to combat “unflattering, uncomfortable, poofy running shorts.”
2009 - The organization Black Girls RUN! was created as a community to support Black girls and women to start running and combat the health disparity in the African American community.
2009 - Women’s Running published its first issue, which is the only women’s specific running magazine.
2018 - Des Linden won the Boston Marathon in 2:39.54, becoming the first American woman to do so since 1985.
CJ Gunther, Shutterstock via Detroit Free Press
Linden’s Boston win was a massive triumph in American women’s distance marathoning after two decades of being dominated by other countries on the international stage.
2020 - The Women’s American Olympic trials had the largest field ever, with 450 women.
John Amis, Associated Press, via the NYT
The top three finishers were Aliphine Tulimuk, Molly Seidel, and Sally Kipyego. At the trials, Tulimuk and Kipyego made history as the first Black women to qualify for the Olympic Marathon under Team USA.