Marílson Gomes dos Santos


Marílson Gomes dos Santos is a Brazilian long-distance runner. He won the 2006 and 2008 New York City Marathon, becoming the first South American to win the race. He was selected as the best male performer at the 2009 Brazilian national championships after breaking the meet records in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres races. He is the current South American record holder in both these events with times of 13:19.43 and 27:28.12, respectively.
He has won medals at the South American Cross Country Championships, starting with a silver in the junior race in 1996, then taking the bronze in the men's long race in 2000, before winning his first championship title in 2008.
He ran at the 2010 London Marathon and came close to a personal best time, finishing in 2:08:46 for sixth place behind Abel Kirui. He signed up for the New York Marathon that year and used the Troféu Brasil de Atletismo as his preparation, winning the 10,000 m title. He secured his third career win at the Saint Silvester Race in São Paulo at the end of the year – a record number for a Brazilian runner since the opening of the run for international participant.
At the 2011 London Marathon, he set a personal best of 2:06:34 hours and placed fourth in the fast race behind a Kenyan trio of Emmanuel Mutai, Martin Lel and Patrick Makau.
Dos Santos competed in the marathon at the 2008, 2012 Summer Olympics and 2016 Olympics with the best result of fifth place in 2012. He is married to Juliana Paula dos Santos, a fellow runner who won gold medals at the 2007 and 2015 Pan American Games. They have a son Miguel.

Competition record