The men's marathon was a track and field athletics

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

 event held as part of the athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics

Athletics at the 1912 Summer Olympics

These are the results of athletics competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics. 30 events were contested, all for men only.The athletics programme grew by 4 events since the 1908 Summer Olympics. The 5000 and 10000 metre races were introduced for the first time, as the 5 mile event was eliminated...

 programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. The distance used was 40.2 kilometres, nearly 2 full kilometres shorter than that used in 1908 and since 1924. The competition was held on Sunday, July 14, 1912.

Sixty-eight runners from 19 nations competed.

With conditions described as "very hot", only half of the competitors finished.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records (in hours) prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics.

World Record	2:40:35	Thure Johansson Thure Johansson (athlete) Thure Johansson was a Swedish long-distance runner who is credited by the International Association of Athletics Federations for setting a world's best of 2:40:34 in the marathon on August 31, 1909...	Stockholm Stockholm Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...  (SWE Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... )	August 31, 1909
Olympic Record	2:55:18.4	Johnny Hayes Johnny Hayes John "Johnny" Joseph Hayes was an American athlete, a member of the Irish American Athletic Club, and winner of the marathon race at the 1908 Summer Olympics...	London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...  (GBR Great Britain Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles... )	July 24, 1908

The distance was nearly two kilometres shorter nevertheless Ken McArthur's winning time is registered as Olympic record.

Results

Place	Athlete	Time	Notes
1		2:36:54.8	OR
2		2:37:52.0
3		2:38:42.4
4		2:42:07.9
5		2:42:18.8
6		2:43:24.9
7		2:44:19.4
8		2:45:47.2
9		2:46:40.7
10		2:49:49.4
11		2:50:36.2
12		2:50:46.6
13		2:51:06.6
14		2:52:11.4
15		2:52:23.0
16		2:52:41.4
17		2:52:53.8
18		2:59:35.4
19		3:00:05.0
20		3:00:48.0
21		3:01:39.2
22		3:02:05.2
23		3:04:59.4
24		3:06:13.0
25		3:09:25.0
26		3:11:37.0
27		3:13:32.2
28		3:16:35.2
29		3:21:57.4
30		3:21:57.6
31		3:25:21.6
32		3:26:56.4
33		3:27:03.8
34		3:36:35.2
35		Unknown
—		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
		DNF
—		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS
		DNS