# 1983 World Championships in Athletics – Men's marathon

The Men's Marathon at the inaugural 1983 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland was held on August 14, 1983.

## Medalists

| Gold | Robert de Castella Australia (AUS) |
| Silver | Kebede Balcha Ethiopia (ETH) |
| Bronze | Waldemar Cierpinski East Germany (GDR) |

## 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 1983 World Athletics Championships :
| World Record | Robert de Castella (AUS) | 2:08:18 | December 6, 1981 | Fukuoka, Japan |
| Event Record | New event | New event | New event | New event |
| Season Best | Robert de Castella (AUS) | 2:08:37 | April 9, 1983 | Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| Broken records at the 1983 World Athletics Championships |||||
| Event Record | Robert de Castella (AUS) | 2:10:03 | August 14, 1983 | Helsinki, Finland |

## Final ranking

| Rank | Athlete | Time | Note |
| | Robert de Castella (AUS) | 2:10:03 | |
| | Kebede Balcha (ETH) | 2:10:27 | |
| | Waldemar Cierpinski (GDR) | 2:10:37 | |
| 4 | Kjell-Erik Ståhl (SWE) | 2:10:38 | NR |
| 5 | Agapius Masong (TAN) | 2:10:42 | |
| 6 | Armand Parmentier (BEL) | 2:10:57 | |
| 7 | Gianni Poli (ITA) | 2:11:05 | NR |
| 8 | Hugh Jones (GBR) | 2:11:15 | |
| 9 | Karel Lismont (BEL) | 2:11:24 | |
| 10 | Stig Roar Husby (NOR) | 2:11:29 | NR |
| 11 | Art Boileau (CAN) | 2:11:30 | |
| 12 | Juan Carlos Traspaderne (ESP) | 2:11:34 | NR |
| 13 | Marco Marchei (ITA) | 2:11:47 | |
| 14 | Pertti Tiainen (FIN) | 2:12:11 | |
| 15 | Juma Ikangaa (TAN) | 2:13:11 | |
| 16 | Ryszard Marczak (POL) | 2:13:20 | |
| 17 | Svend-Erik Kristensen (DEN) | 2:13:34 | |
| 18 | Ron Tabb (USA) | 2:13:38 | |
| 19 | Henrik Jørgensen (DEN) | 2:14:10 | |
| 20 | Hans Joachim Truppel (GDR) | 2:14:20 | |
| 21 | Ricardo Ortega (ESP) | 2:14:46 | |
| 22 | Tommy Persson (SWE) | 2:14:57 | |
| 23 | Bruno Lafranchi (SUI) | 2:14:58 | |
| 24 | Dave Edge (CAN) | 2:15:43 | |
| 25 | Yuriy Pleshkov (URS) | 2:15:50 | |
| 26 | Øyvind Dahl (NOR) | 2:16:02 | |
| 27 | Paul Ballinger (NZL) | 2:16:06 | |
| 28 | Jürgen Eberding (GDR) | 2:16:55 | |
| 29 | Gerard Nijboer (NED) | 2:16:59 | |
| 30 | Frederik Vandervennet (BEL) | 2:17:11 | |
| 31 | Trevor Wright (NZL) | 2:17:31 | |
| 32 | Mehmet Terzi (TUR) | 2:17:56 | |
| 33 | Delfim Moreira (POR) | 2:18:27 | |
| 34 | Li Jong-Hyong (PRK) | 2:18:51 | |
| 35 | Yoshihiro Nishimura (JPN) | 2:18:56 | |
| 36 | Cidálio Caetano (POR) | 2:19:21 | |
| 37 | John Skøvbjerg (DEN) | 2:19:44 | |
| 38 | Jeff Coole (AUS) | 2:20:25 | |
| 39 | Benji Durden (USA) | 2:20:38 | |
| 40 | So Chang-Sik (PRK) | 2:20:43 | |
| 41 | Wilson Theleso (BOT) | 2:21:36 | NR |
| 42 | Hideki Kita (JPN) | 2:21:37 | |
| 43 | Baikuntha Manandhar (NEP) | 2:21:43 | |
| 44 | Henrik Sandström (FIN) | 2:21:56 | |
| 45 | Rudi Verriet (NED) | 2:22:07 | |
| 46 | Dominique Chauvelier (FRA) | 2:23:25 | |
| 47 | Djama Robleh (DJI) | 2:24:04 | |
| 48 | Gerry Helme (GBR) | 2:25:02 | |
| 49 | Sam Hlawe (SWZ) | 2:26:42 | |
| 50 | Jan-Iwar Westlund (SWE) | 2:27:05 | |
| 51 | Carlos Carvajal (CHI) | 2:27:30 | |
| 52 | Don Greig (NZL) | 2:27:37 | |
| 53 | Luis Tipán (ECU) | 2:28:30 | |
| 54 | Palmireno Benjamin Campos (BRA) | 2:29:41 | |
| 55 | Jan Fjærestad (NOR) | 2:30:58 | |
| 56 | Tavares Silva (POR) | 2:31:31 | |
| 57 | Syrja Dalipi (ALB) | 2:31:40 | |
| 58 | Raymond Swan (BER) | 2:33:20 | |
| 59 | Chang-Ming Chen (TPE) | 2:34:00 | |
| 60 | Ágúst Þorsteinsson (ISL) | 2:34:05 | |
| 61 | José Jaime Hernández (ESA) | 2:34:26 | |
| 62 | Michael Lekhelsi (LES) | 2:52:01 | |
| 63 | Said Toumane (COM) | 3:03:10 | |
| DID NOT FINISH (DNF) ||||
| — | Ahmet Altun (TUR) | DNF | |
| — | Santiago de la Parte (ESP) | DNF | |
| — | Mike Gratton (GBR) | DNF | |
| — | Gerhard Hartmann (AUT) | DNF | |
| — | Yair Karni (ISR) | DNF | |
| — | Koshiro Kawaguchi (JPN) | DNF | |
| — | Louis Kenny (IRL) | DNF | |
| — | Ramón López (PAR) | DNF | |
| — | Alfredo Maravilla (ARG) | DNF | |
| — | Ed Mendoza (USA) | DNF | |
| — | Giampaolo Messina (ITA) | DNF | |
| — | Dereje Nedi (ETH) | DNF | |
| — | Peter Quance (CAN) | DNF | |
| — | Ahmed Salah (DJI) | DNF | |
| — | Carlos Victorino (MEX) | DNF | |
| — | Grenville Wood (AUS) | DNF | |
| — | Antonio Villanueva (MEX) | DNF | |
| — | Ralf Salzmann (FRG) | DNF | |