Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jan 22:6:7-21.
doi: 10.2147/OAJSM.S76490. eCollection 2015.

Performance differences between sexes in 50-mile to 3,100-mile ultramarathons

Matthias A Zingg  1 , Beat Knechtle  2 , Thomas Rosemann  1 , Christoph A Rüst  1
Affiliations

Performance differences between sexes in 50-mile to 3,100-mile ultramarathons

Matthias A Zingg et al. Open Access J Sports Med. .

Abstract

Anecdotal reports have assumed that women would be able to outrun men in long-distance running. The aim of this study was to test this assumption by investigating the changes in performance difference between sexes in the best ultramarathoners in 50-mile, 100-mile, 200-mile, 1,000-mile, and 3,100-mile events held worldwide between 1971 and 2012. The sex differences in running speed for the fastest runners ever were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance with subsequent Tukey-Kramer posthoc analysis. Changes in sex difference in running speed of the annual fastest were analyzed using linear and nonlinear regression analyses, correlation analyses, and mixed-effects regression analyses. The fastest men ever were faster than the fastest women ever in 50-mile (17.5%), 100-mile (17.4%), 200-mile (9.7%), 1,000-mile (20.2%), and 3,100-mile (18.6%) events. For the ten fastest finishers ever, men were faster than women in 50-mile (17.1%±1.9%), 100-mile (19.2%±1.5%), and 1,000-mile (16.7%±1.6%) events. No correlation existed between sex difference and running speed for the fastest ever (r (2)=0.0039, P=0.91) and the ten fastest ever (r (2)=0.15, P=0.74) for all distances. For the annual fastest, the sex difference in running speed decreased linearly in 50-mile events from 14.6% to 8.9%, remained unchanged in 100-mile (18.0%±8.4%) and 1,000-mile (13.7%±9.1%) events, and increased in 3,100-mile events from 12.5% to 16.9%. For the annual ten fastest runners, the performance difference between sexes decreased linearly in 50-mile events from 31.6%±3.6% to 8.9%±1.8% and in 100-mile events from 26.0%±4.4% to 24.7%±0.9%. To summarize, the fastest men were ~17%-20% faster than the fastest women for all distances from 50 miles to 3,100 miles. The linear decrease in sex difference for 50-mile and 100-mile events may suggest that women are reducing the sex gap for these distances.

Keywords: running; running speed; sex difference; ultraendurance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Running speed across calendar years from 50-mile to 3,100-mile events for the annual fastest runners. Notes: (A–D) Women. (E–H) Men.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Running speed across calendar years from 50-mile and 100-mile events for the annual ten fastest runners. Notes: (A and B) Women. (C and D) Men.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Sex differences across calendar years from 50-mile (A), 100-mile (B), 1,000-mile (C), and 3,100-mile (D) events for the annual fastest runners.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Sex differences across calendar years in 50-mile and 100-mile events for the annual ten fastest runners.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Running speeds from 50-mile to 3,100-mile events. Notes: (A) Fastest runner ever. (B) Ten fastest runners ever. (C) All finishers. ****P<0.0001. Abbreviation: NS, nonsignificant.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Sex difference in running speed from 50-mile to 3,100-mile events. Notes: (A) Fastest runner ever. (B) Ten fastest runners ever. *P<0.05; **P<0.01. Abbreviation: NS, nonsignificant.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Sex differences in relation to running speed from 50-mile to 3,100-mile events. Notes: (A) Fastest runners ever. (B) Ten fastest runners ever.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Whipp BJ, Ward SA. Will women soon outrun men? Nature. 1992;355(6355):25. - PubMed
    1. Bam J, Noakes TD, Juritz J, Dennis SC. Could women outrun men in ultramarathon races? Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1997;29(2):244–247. - PubMed
    1. Beneke R, Leithäuser RM, Doppelmayr M. Women will do it in the long run. Br J Sports Med. 2005;39(7):410. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cheuvront SN, Carter R, Deruisseau KC, Moffatt RJ. Running performance differences between men and women:an update. Sports Med. 2005;35(12):1017–1024. - PubMed
    1. Tatem AJ, Guerra CA, Atkinson PM, Hay SI. Athletics: momentous sprint at the 2156 Olympics? Nature. 2004;431(7008):525. - PMC - PubMed