One hour run

For hour record for bicycles, see Hour record.

The one hour run is an athletics event in which competitors try to cover as much distance as possible within one hour. While officially recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as a track event, it is rarely contested apart from occasional world record attempts.

The event has a long history, with first recorded races dating back to the late 17th century. The first athlete to run more than 20 kilometers in one hour was Emil Zátopek, in September 1951. Zátopek also set the 20,000 meters world record in the same race, and since that time most men's 20,000 m world records were set en route to one hour world records.

The men's world record is 21,285 m, set by Haile Gebrselassie on 27 June 2007, while the women's world record is 18,517 m, set by Dire Tune on 12 June 2008.

Men's world record progression

Distance	Athlete	Country	Venue	Date
18,742 m	Alfred Shrubb	Great Britain	Glasgow	1904-11-05
19,021 m	Jean Bouin	France	Stockholm	1913-07-06
19,210 m	Paavo Nurmi	Finland	Berlin	1928-10-07
19,339 m	Viljo Heino	Finland	Turku	1945-09-30
19,558 m	Emil Zátopek	Czechoslovakia	Prague	1951-09-15
20,052 m	Emil Zátopek	Czechoslovakia	Stará Boleslav	1951-09-29
20,190 m	Bill Baillie	New Zealand	Auckland	1963-08-24
20,232 m	Ron Clarke	Australia	Geelong	1965-10-27
20,664 m	Gaston Roelants	Belgium	Leuven	1966-10-28
20,784 m	Gaston Roelants	Belgium	Brussels	1972-09-20
20,907 m	Jos Hermens	Netherlands	Papendal	1975-09-28
20,944 m	Jos Hermens	Netherlands	Papendal	1976-05-01
21,101 m	Arturo Barrios	Mexico	La Flèche	1991-03-30
21,285 m	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	Ostrava	2007-06-27

Women's world record progression

Distance	Athlete	Country	Venue	Date
18,084 m	Silvana Cruciata	Italy	Rome	1981-05-02
18,340 m	Tegla Loroupe	Kenya	Borgholzhausen	1998-08-07
18,517 m	Dire Tune	Ethiopia	Ostrava	2008-06-12