Khalid Khannouchi ( ar, خالد خنّوشي) (born September 12, 1971) is a retired American marathoner. He was born in

Meknes Meknes ( ar, مكناس, maknās, ; ber, ⴰⵎⴽⵏⴰⵙ, amknas; french: Meknès) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th c ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

. He is the former

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

holder for the marathon and held the former road world best for the 20 km distance. He is one of only five men to break the marathon world record more than once, and one of only five to break their own marathon world record (the others are Jim Peters,

Derek Clayton Derek James Clayton (born 17 November 1942) is a former Australian long-distance runner, born in Cumbria, England and raised in Northern Ireland. Clayton set a marathon world best in the Fukuoka Marathon, Japan on 3 December 1967 in 2:09:36.4 ...

Eliud Kipchoge Eliud Kipchoge ( ; born 5 November 1984) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly specialized at the 5000 metre distance. Widely regarded as the greatest marathon runner of all time, he is the 2016 and 2020 O ...

, and

Haile Gebrselassie Haile Gebrselassie ( am, ኀይሌ ገብረ ሥላሴ, ''haylē gebre silassē''; born 18 April 1973) is an Ethiopian retired long-distance track, road running athlete, and businessman. He won two Olympic gold medals and four World Champion ...

). Khalid fell out with the Moroccan athletics federation over training expenses and moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1992 with three of his friends. He married American Sandra Inoa in 1996, who now coaches him and acts as his agent. They set up home in Ossining, New York. He became a

naturalized citizen Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

on May 2, 2000. , Khalid holds the American record for the marathon, with a time of 2:05:38 at the

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically he ...

in 2002. Khannouchi officially retired on March 27, 2012 due to recurring foot injuries since 2003. Khannouchi stated "It was really my feet that betrayed me. Every time I go and try to push hard, I get the pain and soreness again. I can't train hard and if you can't train at a certain level where you can be competitive it's not worth it to keep wasting time."Marathon Great Khalid Khannouchi Officially Retires
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Achievements

* 1993 ** World Student Games, winner of the men's 5000 metres in Buffalo. * 1997 ** Cobán Half Marathon (Guatemala), winner (1:04:30). **

Chicago Marathon The Chicago Marathon is a marathon (long-distance foot race) held every October in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the six World Marathon Majors. Thus, it is also a World Athletics Label Road Race. The Chicago Marathon is the fourth-largest r ...

, winner (2:07:10), at that time the fastest debut marathon in history and the fourth fastest marathon of all time. * 1998 ** Chicago Marathon, second place (2:07:19) ** Peachtree Road Race 10k, winner (27:47) ** Falmouth Road Race 7.1 miles, winner (31:48) ** New Haven 20K, winner in a world road record (57:37) * 1999 ** Chicago Marathon, winner in

time (2:05:42) ** Peachtree Road Race 10k, winner (27:45) * 2000 **

, third place (2:08:36) **

, winner in a new American record (2:07:01) * 2002 ** London Marathon, winner in world record time (2:05:38) ** Chicago Marathon, winner (2:05:56), becoming the first man in history to break 2:06 twice in one year ** Ranked as the number #1 marathoner in the world by

Track & Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running ...

and their American Athlete of the Year. * 2004 ** Chicago Marathon, fifth place (2:08:44) * 2006 **

, 4th place (2:07:04), coming back from a long period of injury. * 2007 **

, did not finish. ** United States Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City, 4th place (2:12:3

Khannouchi was the first marathoner to break 2:06:00. However, he lost the world record to

Paul Tergat Paul Kibii Tergat (born 17 June 1969) is a Kenyan former professional long distance runner. He became the first Kenyan man to set the world record in the marathon in 2003, with a time of 2:04:55, and is regarded as one of the most accomplished l ...

on September 28, 2003.

Personal bests

References

External links

*
Khalid Khannouchi Profile at All-Athletics.com

Audio interview

TheFinalSprint.com's 5/18/07 interview with Khalid Khannouchi before his NYC racing debut
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khannouchi, Khalid 1971 births Living people Moroccan emigrants to the United States American male long-distance runners American male marathon runners Moroccan male long-distance runners Moroccan male marathon runners London Marathon male winners World record setters in athletics (track and field) People from Meknes People from Ossining, New York Chicago Marathon male winners Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Recipients of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races Best Marathon Runner Award Universiade gold medalists for Morocco Medalists at the 1993 Summer Universiade