# 1991 World Championships in Athletics – Men's marathon

The men's marathon at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo, Japan was held on September 1, 1991. The race started at 18:00 local time.

## Medalists

| Gold | Hiromi Taniguchi Japan |
| Silver | Hussein Ahmed Salah Djibouti |
| Bronze | Steve Spence United States |

## Records

Standing records prior to the 1991 World Athletics Championships :
| World Record | Belayneh Dinsamo | Ethiopia (ETH) | 2:06:50 | April 17, 1988 | Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| Championships tecord | Robert de Castella | Australia (AUS) | 2:10:03 | August 14, 1983 | Helsinki, Finland |
| Season best | Kōichi Morishita | Japan (JPN) | 2:08:53 | February 3, 1991 | Ōita, Japan |

## Results

| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Result |
| | Hiromi Taniguchi | Japan (JPN) | 2:14:57 |
| | Hussein Ahmed Salah | Djibouti (DJI) | 2:15:26 |
| | Steve Spence | United States (USA) | 2:15:36 |
| 4 | Jan Huruk | Poland (POL) | 2:15:47 |
| 5 | Futoshi Shinohara | Japan (JPN) | 2:15:52 |
| 6 | Salvatore Bettiol | Italy (ITA) | 2:15:58 |
| 7 | Maurilio Castillo | Mexico (MEX) | 2:16:15 |
| 8 | Gelindo Bordin | Italy (ITA) | 2:17:03 |
| 9 | Tekeye Gebrselassie | Ethiopia (ETH) | 2:18:37 |
| 10 | Konrad Dobler | Germany (GER) | 2:19:01 |
| 11 | Steve Moneghetti | Australia (AUS) | 2:19:18 |
| 12 | Sam Carey | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 2:20:02 |
| 13 | Peter Maher | Canada (CAN) | 2:20:31 |
| 14 | Diego García | Spain (ESP) | 2:21:16 |
| 15 | Dominique Chauvelier | France (FRA) | 2:21:37 |
| 16 | Tonnie Dirks | Netherlands (NED) | 2:22:17 |
| 17 | Elphas Ginindza | Eswatini (SWZ) | 2:22:43 |
| 18 | Stephan Freigang | Germany (GER) | 2:23:13 |
| 19 | Kim Won-tak | South Korea (KOR) | 2:23:14 |
| 20 | Dave Buzza | Great Britain & N.I. (GBR) | 2:23:24 |
| 21 | Vladimir Bukhanov | Soviet Union (URS) | 2:24:26 |
| 22 | Motsemme Kgaotsang | Botswana (BOT) | 2:25:28 |
| 23 | Kim Reynierse | Aruba (ARU) | 2:26:50 |
| 24 | Martin Vrábeľ | Czechoslovakia (TCH) | 2:26:56 |
| 25 | Gian Luigi Macina | San Marino (SMR) | 2:28:40 |
| 26 | Steve Taylor | United States (USA) | 2:29:09 |
| 27 | Myint Kan | Myanmar (MYA) | 2:29:14 |
| 28 | William Aguirre | Nicaragua (NCA) | 2:29:35 |
| 29 | Aleksandr Vychuzhanin | Soviet Union (URS) | 2:32:37 |
| 30 | Alberto Cuba | Cuba (CUB) | 2:32:57 |
| 31 | Krishna Bahadur Basnet | Nepal (NEP) | 2:33:13 |
| 32 | Fai Yeung Ng | Hong Kong (HKG) | 2:34:26 |
| 33 | Freddy Lujan | Bolivia (BOL) | 2:36:54 |
| 34 | Hsu Gi-sheng | Chinese Taipei (TPE) | 2:37:20 |
| 35 | Roland Wille | Liechtenstein (LIE) | 2:48:12 |
| 36 | Abdillah Soilihi | Comoros (COM) | 2:56:36 |
| — | Faasalele Fuauli | Western Samoa (WSM) | DNF |
| — | Alessio Faustini | Italy (ITA) | DNF |
| — | Manuel Matias | Portugal (POR) | DNF |
| — | Abebe Mekonnen | Ethiopia (ETH) | DNF |
| — | Takeyuki Nakayama | Japan (JPN) | DNF |
| — | Antoni Niemczak | Poland (POL) | DNF |
| — | Jörg Peter | Germany (GER) | DNF |
| — | Joaquim Pinheiro | Portugal (POR) | DNF |
| — | Francisco Romera | Spain (ESP) | DNF |
| — | Yakov Tolstikov | Soviet Union (URS) | DNF |
| — | Carlos Ayala | Mexico (MEX) | DNF |
| — | Alfredo Shahanga | Tanzania (TAN) | DNF |
| — | Nivaldo Vieira | Brazil (BRA) | DNF |
| — | Åke Eriksson | Sweden (SWE) | DNF |
| — | Brad Hudson | United States (USA) | DNF |
| — | Mohamed Kamel Selmi | Algeria (ALG) | DNF |
| — | Ahmed Al Hamshani | Jordan (JOR) | DNF |
| — | Simon Mrashani | Tanzania (TAN) | DNF |
| — | Kim Wan-ki | South Korea (KOR) | DNF |
| — | Laurenio Beserra | Brazil (BRA) | DNF |
| — | Jean-Luc Assemat | France (FRA) | DNF |
| — | Tesfaye Dadi | Ethiopia (ETH) | DNF |
| — | Daniel Böltz | Switzerland (SUI) | DNF |
| — | Manny Lolin | Malaysia (MAS) | DNF |