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Introduction: The Ultimate Run
We are going to look at the World Marathon Majors for 2026, including which races are coming up and a look back at the history of the World Marathon Majors and individual race winners.
What are the Majors?
Introduced in 2006, the World Marathon Majors or more easily known as just WMM, was created to give the marathon runners a âChampionshipâ style competition which runs throughout the year over seven marathons and in years when we have the Olympics or World Championships, it increases to eight marathons.
Originally, the championship ran for two full calendar years, but now runs as a simpler Tokyo in March through to New York in November, where runners can score points at each of the marathons. Runners can score points in each marathon; however, only their two highest point scores will count towards the final table.
This means if a runner wins three marathons, instead of picking up 75 points, they will only get 50 points, as only two of those races can count. If a runner finishes 1st (25pts), 2nd (16pts) and 3rd (9pts), then their points from their 1st and 2nd will count, so in total 41 points.
Here are the points on offer for each of the marathons:
- 1st Place: 25 points
- â2nd Place: 16 points
- â3rd Place: 9 points
- â4th Place: 4 points
- â5th Place: 1 point
If at the end of the year, we have athletes tied, then the places will be decided on the head-to-head records between the athletes. If that doesnât split them, then the runner who won the most races and the final deciding factor, if needed, would be down to the Race Directors voting on who should be the winner.
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The Seven Pillars
As previously mentioned, in a normal race year, there are seven marathons which count towards the World Marathon Majors since the introduction of the Sydney Marathon in 2025. Before that, there had been six since 2013 when Tokyo was added, and for the first seven years, there were only five.
Seven can become eight, in both 2027 & 2028, for example, we will see the series extended to eight marathons with the World Championships taking place in 2027 (Beijing) and then the Olympics taking place in 2028 (Los Angeles). Below is the schedule for 2026.
The Spring Classics
- Tokyo Marathon (1st March)
- Boston Marathon (20th April)
- London Marathon (26th April)
The Summer Down Under
- Sydney Marathon (30th August)
The Autumn Season
- Berlin Marathon (27th September)
- Chicago Marathon (11th October)
- New York City Marathon (1st November)
The Race Winners
The Legends of the Road
When you talk marathons, the first thing which comes to mind is the quality of the Kenyan runners, and that has been proven year after year with them picking up wins across multiple races.
The World Marathon Majors GOATs
When talking about the GOAT of the World Marathon Majors, the first name which comes to mind is Eliud Kipchoge. Between 2014 & 2023, Eliud went on to win 11 races on the World Marathon Majors and is the only person in the history of the World Marathon Majors to have double-figured wins! The Kenyan loved it in Europe; he was a five-time winner of the Berlin Marathon and a four-time winner of the London Marathon. His other wins came in Tokyo and Chicago.
On the womenâs side of things, it is another Kenyan who tops the charts with Mary Keitany. She won 7 races during her career, which spanned from 2011 until 2018. Those 7 wins came at just two of the races; she was a four-time winner of the New York City Marathon and a three-time winner of the London Marathon.
The dominance of the Kenyan runners is apparent, from the men who have won three or more races, 10 of the 13 runners are from Kenya, the only three exceptions are all from Ethiopia. On the womenâs side, 9 of the 14 runners who have three or more wins are Kenyan, which means 19 of the top 27 runners are Kenyan!
Here are the top three winners:
- 11 Wins - Eliud Kipchoge (2014-23)
- 7 Wins - Mary Keitany (2011-18)
- 6 Wins - Brigid Kosgei (2018-26)
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The Record Holders
Below are the course record holders for each of the races. As you can see, a fair number of the records are recent, with 6 of the 7 on the menâs side coming since 2022; the only exception was in Boston, with Geoffrey Mutai still holding the record that he set in 2011.
It is much the same with the womenâs records too, 6 of the 7 have been set since 2023, with the only exception being when Paula Radcliffe won the second of her three race wins in 2003.
| Race | Men's Course Records | Women's Course Record |
|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | Benson Kipruto (2:02:16, 2024) | Sutume Kebede (2:15:55, 2024) |
| Boston | Geoffrey Mutai (2:03:02, 2011) | Sharon Lokedi (2:17:22, 2025) |
| London | Kelvin Kiptum (2:01:25, 2023) | Paula Radcliffe (2:15:25, 2003) |
| Sydney | Hailemaryam Kiros (2:06:06, 2025) | Sifan Hassan (2:18:22, 2025) |
| Berlin | Eliud Kipchoge (2:01:09, 2022) | Tigst Assefa (2:11:53, 2023) |
| Chicago | Kelvin Kiptum (2:00:35, 2023) | Ruth Chepngetich (2:09:56, 2024) |
| New York | Tamirat Tola (2:04:58, 2023) | Hellen Obiri (2:19:51, 2025) |
Obviously, you cannot state a âCourseâ record for either of the World Championships or the Olympics, given that they move to different venues around the world. What you can state is an official record of the races.
For the World Championships, both records were set in 2022 when held in Eugene, Oregon (US): Tamirat Tola for the men, with a time of 2:05:36 and Gotytom Gebreslase with a time of 2:18:11.
For the Olympics, again, both were set at the same Olympics, which was the 2024 Paris Olympics, where it was again Tamirat Tola who set a time of 2:06:26 and Sifan Hassan with a time of 2:22:55.
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Andy Powell
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