Paul Tergat set the first officially recognized men’s marathon world record under 2:05.
Tergat ran 2:04:55 at the 2003 Berlin Marathon, becoming the first athlete to break the 2:05 barrier in a performance recognized as a world record. He represented Kenya and lowered the previous record by a significant margin during a race paced for speed.
The achievement marked an important point in marathon history because 2:05 had long been treated as an elite benchmark. Tergat’s record was later lowered by Haile Gebrselassie, also in Berlin, in 2007.
Tergat had already been a dominant track and cross-country athlete. He won the World Cross Country title and Olympic silver medals in the 10,000 meters before concentrating more heavily on road racing.