# 1987 World Championships in Athletics – Men's marathon

The Men's Marathon at the 1987 World Championships in Rome, Italy was held on Sunday September 6, 1987.

## Medalists

| Gold | Douglas Wakiihuri Kenya (KEN) |
| Silver | Hussein Ahmed Salah Djibouti (DJI) |
| Bronze | Gelindo Bordin Italy (ITA) |

## Abbreviations

* All times shown are in hours:minutes:seconds
| DNS | did not start |
| NM | no mark |
| WR | world record |
| WL | world leading |
| AR | area record |
| NR | national record |
| PB | personal best |
| SB | season best |

## Records

Standing records prior to the 1987 World Athletics Championships :
| World Record | Carlos Lopes (POR) | 2:07:12 | April 20, 1985 | Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| Event Record | Robert de Castella (AUS) | 2:10:03 | August 14, 1983 | Helsinki, Finland |
| Season Best | Hiromi Taniguchi (JPN) | 2:09:50 | May 10, 1987 | London, United Kingdom |

## Final ranking

| RANK | FINAL | TIME |
| | Douglas Wakiihuri (KEN) | 2:11:48 |
| | Hussein Ahmed Salah (DJI) | 2:12:30 |
| | Gelindo Bordin (ITA) | 2:12:40 |
| 4. | Steve Moneghetti (AUS) | 2:12:49 |
| 5. | Hugh Jones (GBR) | 2:12:54 |
| 6. | Juma Ikangaa (TAN) | 2:13:43 |
| 7. | Orlando Pizzolato (ITA) | 2:14:03 |
| 8. | Ravil Kashapov (URS) | 2:14:41 |
| 9. | Henrik Jørgensen (DEN) | 2:14:58 |
| 10. | Dirk Vanderherten (BEL) | 2:16:42 |
| 11. | Yakov Tolstikov (URS) | 2:16:55 |
| 12. | Martin Vrabel (TCH) | 2:16:58 |
| 13. | Salvatore Bettiol (ITA) | 2:17:45 |
| 14. | Mirko Vindiš (YUG) | 2:18:09 |
| 15. | Tefera Guta (ETH) | 2:18:27 |
| 16. | Vicente Antón (ESP) | 2:19:00 |
| 17. | Herbert Steffny (FRG) | 2:19:24 |
| 18. | Honorato Hernández (ESP) | 2:20:00 |
| 19. | Michael Spottel (FRG) | 2:20:43 |
| 20. | Graham Macky (NZL) | 2:20:43 |
| 21. | Don Janicki (USA) | 2:20:46 |
| 22. | Masayuki Nishi (JPN) | 2:20:51 |
| 23. | Eloi Rodrigues (BRA) | 2:21:03 |
| 24. | Marti ten Kate (NED) | 2:22:21 |
| 25. | Kingston Mills (IRL) | 2:22:52 |
| 26. | Yuichiro Osuda (JPN) | 2:23:25 |
| 27. | Sam Hlawe (SWZ) | 2:24:09 |
| 28. | Alfonso Abellán (ESP) | 2:24:20 |
| 29. | Bigboy Matlapeng (BOT) | 2:24:43 |
| 30. | Fumiaki Abe (JPN) | 2:24:47 |
| 31. | Jeong Man-Hwa (KOR) | 2:25:41 |
| 32. | Peter Maher (CAN) | 2:26:40 |
| 33. | William Aguirre (NCA) | 2:27:19 |
| 34. | Vithanakande Samarasinghe (SRI) | 2:28:35 |
| 35. | José Jami (ECU) | 2:29:04 |
| 36. | Peter Mitchell (AUS) | 2:30:04 |
| 37. | Francis Mukuka (ZAM) | 2:30:05 |
| 38. | Justin Gloden (LUX) | 2:30:08 |
| 39. | Hsu Gi-sheng (TPE) | 2:30:31 |
| 40. | Moacir Marconi (BRA) | 2:31:39 |
| 41. | Stanimir Nenov (BUL) | 2:32:44 |
| 42. | Hari Singh (IND) | 2:34:20 |
| 43. | Albert Marie (SEY) | 2:40:48 |
| 44. | Veselin Vasilev (BUL) | 2:43:14 |
| 45. | Salvator Sahabo (BRU) | 2:43:43 |
| 46. | Chandra Bahadur Gurung (NEP) | 2:43:54 |
| 47. | William Abrams (GUY) | 3:12:33 |
| — | Ralf Salzmann (FRG) | DNF |
| — | Bruno Lafranchi (SUI) | DNF |
| — | Policarpio Calizaya (BOL) | DNF |
| — | Robert de Castella (AUS) | DNF |
| — | Christos Papachristos (GRE) | DNF |
| — | El Mostafa Nechchadi (MAR) | DNF |
| — | Dan Grimes (USA) | DNF |
| — | Geoff Smith (GBR) | DNF |
| — | Abebe Mekonnen (ETH) | DNF |
| — | Delfim Moreira (POR) | DNF |
| — | Martti Vainio (FIN) | DNF |
| — | Mehmet Terzi (TUR) | DNF |
| — | Alain Lazare (FRA) | DNF |
| — | Dave Gordon (USA) | DNF |
| — | Jorge Yeber (ARG) | DNF |
| — | Djama Robleh (DJI) | DNF |
| — | James Walker (GUM) | DNF |
| — | Samu Samuelu (WSM) | DNF |
| — | Bogusław Psujek (POL) | DNF |
| — | Allan Zachariassen (DEN) | DNF |