Performance Differences Between the Sexes in the Boston Marathon From 1972 to 2017 The differences between the sexes in the marathon were examined for athletes who participate in world-class races.However, there is no information about changes of these differences since the first woman officially participated in marathons.We examined the trends in participation and performance at the Boston Marathon from 1972 to 2017. In total, 371'250 different finishers (64% men) and 553'890 observations - of which 187,998 (34%) women and 365'892 (66%) men - analyzed with generalized additive mixed models.The number of finishers rose over the years.The participation of women began in 1972 at 2,81% and reached a value of 45.68% in 2016.Men were men (03:38:42 ± 00:41:43 h: min: s) a total of 10.7% faster than women (04:03:28 ± 00:38:32 h: min: s). The average performance worsened over the years, but the differences between the sexes took off.For the 10 fastest runners per year, the performance improved with a reduction in speed difference (total 18.3%, men: 02:13:30 ± 00:04:08 H: min: S vs. Women: 02:37:42 ± 00: 17:58 H: Min: S).The annual winners improved the performance with a decrease in speed difference (15.5% overall, men: 02:10:24 ± 00:03:05 H: min: S vs. Women: 02:30:43 ± 00:11:05 h: min: s).
In the runners from the 21st to the 100th place and from 101. to the 200th place, the performance of women improved with a decline in the difference to the men. In summary, the performance history depended on the years of the methodological approach, but the difference between the sexes decreased in all cases. Although men were 10.7% faster than women, the fastest men increased the distance between men and women by an average of 18.3% for the annual 10 fastest and 15.5% for the annual winners. The study can be found under https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30664107/