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BACKGROUND Ultra-marathon running is the most popular ultra-endurance competition in terms of the number of races and runners competing annually worldwide; however, no study has compared pacing and performance over a long period. OBJECTIVE The present study analyzed the pacing of successful finishers and non-finishers in multi-stage ultra-marathons worldwide. METHODS A total of 4,079 athletes (men=3,288; women=791) competing in 99 multi-stage ultra-marathon events from 1983 to 2021 were analyzed, including the number of participants, age, gender, rank and running speed of successful finishers. RESULTS The results showed a significant increase in the number of events (400%) and a significant increase in the number of finishers and non-finishers (250%) in the ultra-marathons worldwide during this period. The GLM of pacing variation showed non-significant effects for gender (F = 2.5; p = 0.127; p2 = 0.063) and age group (F = 0.6; p = 0.798; p2 = 0.367), but it showed a significant interaction (gender x age) effect (F = 2.3; p = 0.008; p2 = 0.009). Post-hoc analyses showed that men have a higher pacing variation than women in U30, U35, U45 and U50. Additionally, the fastest women age group (U35) had the lowest pacing variation. The GLM of pacing variation by gender and event distance showed significant effects for both gender (F = 18.5; p < 0.001; p2 = 0.007) and distance (F = 20.1; p < 0.001; p2 = 0.015). Post-hoc analyses showed a growing pacing variation with increasing race distance for both men and women. In addition, men had a higher variation in long events. Furthermore, there was a significant main effect for both gender (F = 33.7; p < 0.001; p2 = 0.012) and rank (F = 136.6; p < 0.001; p2 = 0.048) on performance, with men being faster than women. Pacing varied greatly due to gender (F = 4.0; p = 0.047; p2 = 0.001), with a lower (i.e., more even) pacing variation for men athletes in the top three finishers. Men non-finishers showed a higher performance than women non-finishers (F = 25.6; p < 0.001), and no difference was identified for pacing variation (F = 1.5; p = 0.228) based on gender. In addition, a weak but significant correlation (r = -0.130; p < 0.001) was identified between the average running speed and pacing variation for both women and men non-finishers. CONCLUSIONS In summary, multi-stage ultra-marathon competitions showed an increasing number of competitors and a higher performance challenge. Men have a higher pacing (i.e., less even) variation than women, especially observed in longer events. A higher pacing variation was associated with lower performance for men, women, and non-finishers. CLINICALTRIAL