Running
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
49 free Running trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
50 free running trivia questions with answers. Are you a running enthusiast or casual jogger? Put your knowledge to the test with our comprehensive running trivia quiz. From Olympic marathons to famous athletes and running history, see how much you really know about the sport of running.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the standardized distance of a modern marathon in kilometers?
42.195 km
42.195 km dates from the 1908 Olympics, when the course ran from Windsor Castle to a finish in front of the royal box in the stadium; that odd length became the standard in 1921.
Q 02Who was the first person to officially break the four-minute mile barrier?
Roger Bannister
Roger Bannister ran 3:59.4 on 6 May 1954, paced by Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway; John Landy beat the mark 46 days later.
Q 03The training method known as 'Fartlek' originates from which country?
Sweden
Sweden's coach Gösta Holmér devised fartlek, Swedish for 'speed play', in the 1930s for Swedish distance runners tired of losing to Paavo Nurmi's Finns.
Q 04What physiological event is commonly referred to as 'hitting the wall' during a marathon?
Running out of stored glycogen
Running out of stored glycogen typically strikes around 30 km, because the liver and muscles can bank only a limited supply; cyclists know the same sudden collapse as 'the bonk'.
Q 05Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman used which kitchen appliance to mould the grippy sole of an early running shoe?
A waffle iron
A waffle iron gave Bill Bowerman the grid pattern for the sole of Nike's Waffle Trainer; he had started the company on a handshake with Phil Knight, a miler he once coached.
Q 06Which British runner won the Olympic 5,000 metres in both 2012 and 2016?
Mo Farah
Mo Farah won the longer track race at both Games too, a repeat double matched only by Finland's Lasse Virén; in one 2016 final he fell mid-race, got up and still took gold.
Q 07Which is the longest race run entirely on the track at the Olympics?
10,000 metres
The 10,000 metres takes 25 laps, so long that everyday track meetings seldom stage it; the marathon and the race walks, the longer Olympic races, go out onto the roads.
Q 08Which Ethiopian won Olympic track golds in 1996 and 2000, then twice set the marathon world record?
Haile Gebrselassie
Haile Gebrselassie took his second gold in Sydney by 0.09 seconds from Paul Tergat, a tighter finish than the men's 100 metres final at the same Games.
Q 09Which term describes the natural inward rolling motion of the foot upon landing while running or walking?
Pronation
Pronation is the foot's natural inward roll after landing, part of its shock absorption; too much or too little is what shoe fitters call over- and under-pronation.
Q 10Which of these annual 26.2-mile road races, first run in 1897, is the world's oldest?
Boston
The Boston Marathon exists because of the 1896 Olympics: John Graham, manager of the US team in Athens, came home inspired by the marathon there and helped stage one the following April.
Q 11The Achilles tendon attaches the calf muscles to which part of the foot?
Heel bone
The heel bone, or calcaneus, gives the tendon its formal name, the calcaneal tendon; the popular one recalls the myth in which Achilles was held by the heel when dipped in the River Styx.
Q 12What is the everyday name for medial tibial stress syndrome, the runner's overuse pain along the inside of the lower leg?
Shin splints
Shin splints come from high-impact exercise overloading the tibia and usually ease with rest, though a stress fracture must be ruled out if the pain persists.
Q 13Runners with iliotibial band syndrome typically feel pain on which part of the body?
Outside of the knee
Q 21In which city did Eliud Kipchoge run the first sub-two-hour marathon distance in 2019?
Vienna
Kipchoge ran 1:59:40 in Vienna's Prater park, but with 41 pacemakers rotating in and out and no open competition, the time could not count as a world record.
Q 22What is 'gait analysis' in the context of running?
The study of a runner's movement pattern
The study of a runner's movement pattern lets a clinic spot the faults in a stride that are linked to injury, then retrain them: runners given live feedback as they run have learned to hit the ground less hard.
Q 23What is the runner who takes the final leg of a relay team called?
The anchor
Outside of the knee is where the iliotibial band, a strap of tissue running down the thigh from the hip, crosses the joint; the pain is usually sharpest with the knee bent about 30 degrees.
Q 14Which woman ran the 1967 Boston Marathon with an official bib despite an official trying to drag her off the course?
Kathrine Switzer
Kathrine Switzer had signed her entry form 'K.V. Switzer' and was wearing number 261 when race official Jock Semple tried to tear the bib off her; she kept running.
Q 15What is running 'cadence' a measure of?
Number of steps per minute
Number of steps per minute is all that cadence counts; lab studies find that a slightly quicker step rate at the same speed reduces the load on the hip and knee joints.
Q 16What type of exercise uses explosive, jump-based movements to build power and speed?
Plyometrics
Plyometrics got its name in 1975 from the American runner and coach Fred Wilt, who coined the word after watching how Soviet athletes warmed up for competition.
Q 17In race results, which abbreviation marks a runner who started but dropped out before the end?
DNF
DNF, did not finish, can claim much of a field: at the 2019 world championships in Doha, run at midnight in heat above 30 degrees, only 40 of the 68 women in the marathon finished.
Q 18Which running-shoe category has high flexibility, a low heel-to-toe drop and no stability devices?
Minimalist shoes
Minimalist shoes boomed after the 2009 bestseller Born to Run; in 2014 Vibram, maker of the toe-pocketed FiveFingers, settled a lawsuit over its health claims and offered buyers refunds.
Q 19Which track race sends runners over 28 fixed barriers and seven water jumps?
The steeplechase
The steeplechase takes its name from horse races in which riders galloped towards a distant church steeple; runners borrowed the idea, obstacles and all.
Q 20Which runner won the 5,000 m, 10,000 m and marathon at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics?
Emil Zátopek
Emil Zátopek entered the marathon at the last minute, having never run one; mid-race he asked the favourite, Jim Peters, whether the pace was too fast, then pulled away to win.
The anchor is usually the team's fastest or most experienced runner; at the 1964 Olympics Bob Hayes took the baton for the USA with ground to make up and still won gold in world-record time.
Q 24In legend, which messenger ran from Marathon to Athens with news of victory over the Persians?
Pheidippides
Pheidippides is the name legend gives him, but Herodotus, the earliest account, has him run from Athens to Sparta to ask for help, some 240 km; the dash from Marathon appears only in later writers.
Q 25What informal name is given to a pacemaker who leads the early part of an elite distance race?
Rabbit
Rabbit or not, a pacemaker may finish the race: Paul Pilkington was paid to set the early pace at the 1994 Los Angeles Marathon, kept going when the favourites hung back, and won.
Q 26Endurance athletes train at altitude mainly to trigger what change in the body?
More red blood cells
More red blood cells are the body's answer to thin air: the kidneys release the hormone EPO, which tells the bone marrow to make them, and synthetic EPO is the banned shortcut to the same end.
Q 27Which nine-week beginners' running plan did Josh Clark devise in 1996 to get his mother running?
Couch to 5K
Couch to 5K was written by a new runner for his 50-something mother: it mixes walking and running, starting with one-minute runs, so that no beginner has to go far too soon.
Q 28Who won the 1960 Olympic marathon in Rome running barefoot?
Abebe Bikila
Abebe Bikila bought new shoes in Rome, found they gave him blisters and ran without; four years later he won again in Tokyo, the first man to defend the Olympic marathon title.
Q 29America's oldest annual marathon is traditionally run on which holiday?
Patriots' Day
Patriots' Day marks the battles of Lexington and Concord, and the race's founders chose it to link the Athenian and American struggles for liberty; it now falls on the third Monday of April.
Q 30What is a 'negative split'?
Second half faster than the first
Second half faster than the first makes the difference between the two halves negative, hence the name: Eliud Kipchoge's 2:01:39 world record in 2018 went 61:06, then 60:33.