Khalid Khannouchi


Khalid Khannouchi is a retired Moroccan American marathoner. He was born in Meknes, Morocco. He is the former world record 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 four to break their own marathon world record.
Khalid fell out with the Moroccan athletics federation over training expenses and moved to Brooklyn, New York City 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 of the United States on May 2, 2000.
, Khalid holds the American record for the marathon, with a time of 2:05:38 at the London Marathon 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."

Achievements

Khannouchi was the first marathoner to break 2:06:00. However, he lost the world record to Paul Tergat on September 28, 2003.

Personal bests

Audio interview