Buddy Edelen

Marathons Edelen's promise in the marathon was evident early in his career. In 1962, he finished 4th at the Fukuoka Marathon in an American Record time of 2:18:57, making him the first American to run under 2:20 for the marathon. He was also the first American under 30:00 for the 10,000 m run.

On June 15, 1963, Edelen ran 2:14:28 at the Polytechnic Marathon (run from Windsor to Chiswick, England) to establish a new World Record. That record stood just two days short of a year, as England's Basil Heatley ran 2:13:55 at the 1964 Polytechnic Marathon (which was held on June 13). Edelen was the first American to hold the world record since 1925, and (excepting Alberto Salazar's 2:08:13 at the 1981 New York City Marathon, which later proved to be short) the last until naturalized American Khalid Khannouchi (originally from Morocco) broke his own World Record at the London Marathon in 2002.

After his record run 1963, Edelen also won the Košice Peace Marathon in Czechoslovakia (today Slovakia) in a course-record time of 2:15:09; that record would stand for fifteen years.

The following year, Edelen won the U.S. Olympic Trials marathon by nearly twenty minutes, and went on to finish 6th in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympic games.

In 2016, he was elected into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Achievements Representing the 1962 Fukuoka Marathon Fukuoka, Japan 4th Marathon 2:18:57 (AR) 1963 Polytechnic Marathon Windsor, England 1st Marathon 2:14:28 (WR) 1963 Košice Peace Marathon Košice, Czechoslovakia 1st Marathon 2:15:09 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 6th Marathon 2:18:12