Who was the first woman to run the marathon in less than 2 1/2 hours?

Question

With a time of 3:49.4, breaking the existing world record by over 1.5 seconds, who was the first to run the mile in under 3:50 minutes ?

Answer 1

A year after winning the Sydney Olympics and unveiling her eccentric dietary habits, Naoko Takahashi of Japan became the first woman to run 26.2 miles in under 2 hours 20 minutes yesterday, setting a world record at the Berlin Marathon