Fastest marathon (female, masters 40)

The fastest marathon by a female masters 40 athlete is 2 hr 24 min 54 sec and was achieved by Irina Mikitenko (Germany) at the Berlin Marathon, in Berlin, Germany, on 29 September 2013.

Mikitenko was a track specialist in the early part of her career, running in distances from 3000 metres to 10,000 metres. She represented Kazakhstan at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in the 5000 metres but migrated to Germany soon after. Taking up German citizenship, she ran German records in the 3000 m (8:30.39 minutes) and 5000 m (14:42.03 minutes). After the 2004 Summer Olympics she took a career break to have a child.

Upon her return to competition she began focusing on road running events. The change up to the marathon brought the greatest success of her career. A run of 2:19:19 hours to win the Berlin Marathon made her the fourth fastest woman ever at that point. Her win in London the year after in 2:22:11 hours was the fastest that year. With consistent marathon performances, she secured three consecutive World Marathon Majors title in both the 2007-08, 2008–09, and 2009–10 seasons.