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Why exactly is Geoffrey Mutai's 2:03:02 in Boston (2011) not the marathon World Record?

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Just waiting for someone to run faster so the real answer can become, "Because so-and-so ran 2:03:01 in Berlin on $DATE." – pjmorse Oct 24 '12 at 13:19

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The course for the Boston Marathon does not meet two of the criteria necessary for ratification of world or American records:

  • "The start and finish points of a course, measured along a theoretical straight line between them, shall not be further apart than 50% of the race distance." [i.e., 13.1 miles (21.1 km) for the ~26.2 mile (~42.2 km) marathon distance]
  • "The decrease in elevation between the start and finish shall not exceed an average of one in a thousand, i.e. 1m per km." [i.e., 42.2 m for the ~42.2 km marathon distance]

The Boston course has an endpoint about 24.3 miles (39 km) from the start point, and the endpoint is also 459 feet (139 m) lower than the start point.

source: wikipedia

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IAAF COMPETITION RULES 2012-2013: rule 260.28 (approximate page 244). – Tonny Madsen Feb 21 '12 at 11:29
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Due to the fact that the Boston course is a net downhill in excess of the limit allowed by the world record setting body.

His time is recognized as the fastest marathon ever...but not the world record.

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The IAAF Site has more details. – richaux Feb 8 '12 at 20:37

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