| Final Ranking | time | | 1. Johnny Hayes |  USA | 2:55:18.4 OR | | 2. Charles Hefferon |  Saf | 2:56:06.0 | | 3. Joseph Forshaw | USA | 2:57:10.4 | | 4. Alton Welton | USA | 2:59:44.4 | | 5. William Wood |  Can | 3:01:44.0 | | 6. Frederick Simpson | Can | 3:04:28.2 | | 7. Harry Lawson | Can | 3:06:47.2 | | 8. John Svanberg |  SWE | 3:07:50.8 | | 9. Lewis Tewanima | USA | 3:09:15.0 | | 10.Kalle Nieminen |  FIN | 3:09:50.8 | | 11.Jack Caffery | Can | 3:12:46.0 | | 12.William Clarke |  GBR | 3:16:08.6 | | 13.Ernest Barnes | GBR | 3:17:30.8 | | 14.Sidney Hatch | USA | 3:17:52.4 | | 15.Frederick Lord | GBR | 3:19:08.8 | | 16.William Goldsboro | Can | 3:20:07.0 | | 17.James Beale | GBR | 3:20:14.0 | | 18.Arnošt Nejedlý |  BOH | 3:26:26.2 | | 19.Georg Lind |  RUS | 3:26:38.8 | | 20.Willem Wakker |  NED | 3:28:49.0 | | 21.Gustaf Törnros | SWE | 3:30:20.8 | | 22.George Goulding | Can | 3:33:26.4 | | 23.Julius Jørgensen |  DEN | 3:47:44.0 | | 24.Arthur Burn | Can | 3:50:17.0 | | 25.Emmerich Rath |  Aut | 3:50:30.4 | | 26.Rudy Hansen | DEN | 3:53:15.0 | | 27.George Lister | Can | 4:22:45.0 | | DSQ.Dorando Pietri |  ITA | 2:54:46.4 | | -. Victor Aitken |  ANZ | DNF | | -. Fred Appleby | GBR | DNF | | -. Henry Barrett | GBR | DNF | | -. George Blake | ANZ | DNF | | -. Umberto Blasi |  Ita | DNF | | -. Wilhelmus Braams | NED | DNF | | -. George Buff | NED | DNF | | -. François Celis |  BEL | DNF | | -. Edward Cotter | Can | DNF | | -. Alexander Duncan | GBR | DNF | | -. Thomas Jack | GBR | DNF | | -. Nikolaos Kouloumberdas |  Gre | DNF | | -. Anastasios Koutoulakis | Gre | DNF | | -. Seth Landqvist | SWE | DNF | | -. Johan Lindqvist | SWE | DNF | | -. Tom Longboat | Can | DNF | | -. Joseph Lynch | ANZ | DNF | | -. James Mitchell-Baker | Saf | DNF | | -. Thomas Morrissey | USA | DNF | | -. Frederick Noseworthy | Can | DNF | | -. Jack Price | GBR | DNF | | -. Fritz Reiser |  GeR | DNF | | -. Michael Ryan | USA | DNF | | -. John Tait | Can | DNF | | -. Frederick Thompson | GBR | DNF | | -. Arie Vosbergen | NED | DNF | | -. Albert Wyatt | GBR | DNF | | -. Thure Bergvall | SWE | DNS | | -. Augusto Cocca | Ita | DNS | | -. Felix Kwieton |  AUT | DNS | | -. James J. Lee | USA | DNS | | -. Frederick Lorz | USA | DNS | | -. Ivar Lundberg | SWE | DNS | | -. L. Merenyi |  HUN | DNS | | -. A. B. Mole | Saf | DNS | | -. Hermann Müller | GeR | DNS | | -. Paul Nettelbeck | GeR | DNS | | -. James W. O'Mara | USA | DNS | | -. Georg Peterson | SWE | DNS | | -. C. E. Stevens | Saf | DNS | | -. Samuel Stevenson | GBR | DNS | | -. W. F. Theunissen | NED | DNS | | -. Alexander Thibeau | USA | DNS | | -. Vincent | Saf | DNS | | -. W. Wood | USA | DNS |
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| | | Johnny Hayes won after Dorando Pietri was DSQ for having received assistance before the finish line. |
| Starting at Windsor Castle and finishing at the Olympic Stadium, the Great White City Stadium. | | 75 competitors from 16 nations entered. 55 competitors from 16 nations started. | | 27 competitors from 11 nations finished. | | Olympic Record: 40km - 2:58:50 - Spiridon Louis (GRE), Athens (GRE), 10 April 1896. | | and 41.86km - 2:51:23.6 - William Sherring (CAN) , Athens (GRE), 1 May 1906. | | For the first time in an Olympic marathon, the distance was 26 mi 385 yd - 42.195 km, which would become the standard distance in 1921. | | The full Olympic route was thus from Windsor, via Eton, Slough, Langley, Uxbridge, Ickenham, Ruislip, Harrow, Sudbury, Wembley, Willesden, and Wormwood Scrubs, to White City Stadium. |
The official report lists the leaders at each mile from the fourth to the twenty-fourth: Thomas Jack (miles 4–5) ; Frederick Lord (miles 6–14) ; Charles Hefferon (miles 15–24). Dorando Pietri of Italy caught Hefferon and sped up between Old Oak Common Lane and Wormwood Scrubs. He was the first to enter the stadium, but was already exhausted, and the most famous incident of the entire Games ensued.
| | Pietri turned the wrong way onto the track, and after turning round, collapsed several times as he progressed. Not far from the finish-line, two of the officials — Jack Andrew, the clerk of the course; and Dr Michael Bulger of the Irish Amateur Athletic Association, the chief medical officer that day — went to his aid. As a consequence the runner-up, American Johnny Hayes protested, leading to Pietri's disqualification. |
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