Eckhard Lesse (born 1 December 1948) is a German former long-distance runner.

Lesse represented East Germany at the 1972 Summer Olympics and won silver in men's marathon at the 1974 European Championships.

[4][5] Later that year he placed third in the strong Fukuoka Marathon, behind Olympic champion Frank Shorter and Canada's Brian Armstrong;[6] Track & Field News ranked Lesse the world's second best marathoner that year.

[7] At the 1974 European Championships in Rome Lesse placed second to Great Britain's Ian Thompson in 2:14:57.4.

[7] Lesse was ranked in the world's top ten for a final time in 1975,[7] when he placed fifth in Fukuoka in 2:12:42.6.